In the panic-induced search for relevant yet attractive Halloween costumes, it’s easy to fall into the too-trendy sexy pizza rat rabbit hole or match twenty of your closest friends as Steve Jobs. Maybe we should all just take a step back and dress up as our favorite NYC goods and services? Brooke Shields did a great Citi Bike last year, and this guy wore a brilliant riff on subway shark. Here’s an idea: take a page from this adorable child’s playbook and dress up as municipal compost. It’s definitely relevant — in the last month, the city has added several neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens to the growing curbside collection program.
Nearly a third of the city’s waste is compostable, and though there are several options for compost dropoff (and paid pickup), it really doesn’t get easier than having a designated bin. This month, organics collection arrived in Carroll Gardens, Red Hook and Cobble Hill in Brooklyn and Ozone Park, Lindenwood and Howard Beach in Queens. For a complete map of the new territories, check out this map.
You can request organics collection for your apartment online here. Don’t live in any of the pilot neighborhoods? There are neighborhood drop-off sites all over the five boroughs, and most Greenmarkets also accept food scraps. The NYC Compost Project also offers low-cost composting equipment (bin + worms for $55!), more information here.
