2022 Spring Compost Giveback

March 24, 2022
Posted in Recycling | Tagged compost, zerowaste, giveback

The GrowNYC Compost Program is typically focused on collecting your food scraps, but this spring, we’re also giving away free compost made from the food scraps we’ve collected in the last year! This is our annual act of reciprocity: we're closing the loop and giving thanks to the thousands of New Yorkers who have saved their food scraps from landfills by bringing them to our Food Scrap Drop-off sites. Small, 2-pound bags of ready-to-use compost will be available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last, as outlined below.

Compost Made in NYC

The compost for this Giveback is provided by two New York City Compost Project host sites: Earth Matter NY and Queens Botanical Garden. If you’ve dropped off food scraps with GrowNYC, then the bag of compost you’ll receive may contain nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium from your very own peels and pits. That’s what we mean when we say “closed loop.”

Compost Giveback Schedule

Quantities are limited and based on average weekly participation at each drop-off site, so consider coming early to make sure you get a bag.

2022 COMPOST GIVEBACK DATE 

BOROUGH LOCATION  

TIME 

COMPOST MADE BY 
Friday, April 1 Queens Corona Food Scrap Drop-off
Roosevelt Ave & 103 St
8am-1pm Queens Botanical Garden
Sunday, April 3 Queens Jackson Heights Greenmarket
79th St and Northern Blvd
8:30am-2pm Queens Botanical Garden
Sunday, April 3 Queens Forest Hills Greenmarket
70th Ave & Austin St
9am-1pm Queens Botanical Garden
Thursday, April 7 Queens Kew Gardens Food Scrap Drop-off
Metropolitan Ave & Audley St
9:30am-12:30pm Queens Botanical Garden
Saturday, April 9 Queens Sunnyside Greenmarket
Skillman Ave & 42nd St
9am-1pm Queens Botanical Garden
Saturday, April 9 Queens Ridgewood Food Scrap Drop-off
Myrtle Ave & Cypress Ave
9:30am-1:30pm Queens Botanical Garden
Wednesday, April 27 Manhattan Madison Sq. Park Food Scrap Drop-off
23rd St & Broadway
8am-1pm Earth Matter
Wednesday, April 27 Manhattan Dag Hammarskjold Plaza Greenmarket
E. 47th St and 2nd Ave
8am-12:30pm Earth Matter
Thursday, April 28 Manhattan 181st St Food Scrap Drop-off
181st St & Fort Washington Ave
7am-12:30pm Earth Matter
Thursday, April 28 Manhattan 145th St Food Scrap Drop-off
145th St & Edgecombe Ave
7:30am-12pm Earth Matter
Thursday, April 28 Manhattan Tucker Sq. Greenmarket
66th St & Columbus Ave
8am-11am Earth Matter
Thursday, April 28 Brooklyn

Wilson Ave Food Scrap Drop-off
Wilson Ave & Moffat St

9am-1pm Earth Matter
Friday, April 29 Manhattan 97th St Greenmarket
W 97th & Amsterdam
8am-12:30pm Earth Matter
Friday, April 29 Manhattan E 96th St
East 96th St & Lexington Ave
7:30am-11:30am Earth Matter
Saturday, April 30 Brooklyn

Brooklyn Borough Hall Greenmarket
Court St & Montague St

8am-12pm Earth Matter
Saturday, April 30 Brooklyn Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket
Flatbush Ave & Eastern Pkwy (north of the arch)
8am-2pm Earth Matter
Saturday, April 30 Brooklyn McCarren Park Greenmarket
N 12th St and Driggs Ave
8am-12pm Earth Matter
Wednesday, May 5 Bronx Mott Haven Food Scrap Drop-off
545 East 142nd Street
9am-12pm Earth Matter
Wednesday, May 5 Bronx Morrisania Food Scrap Drop-off
McKinley Square at 169th St & Boston Rd
10am-1pm Earth Matter
Thursday, May 5 Brooklyn

Franklin Ave Food Scrap Drop-off
Eastern Parkway & Franklin Ave

8:30am-11:30am

Earth Matter
Thursday, May 5 Brooklyn Prospect Heights Food Scrap Drop-off
Park Place & Carlton Ave
8am-11am Earth Matter
Thursday, May 5 Bronx Norwood Farmstand
E Gun Hill Rd & Dekalb Ave
9am-2pm Earth Matter
Thursday, May 5 Bronx BronxWorks Food Scrap Drop-off
1130 Grand Concourse
10am-1pm Earth Matter
Friday, May 6 Bronx New Roots Community Farm Food Scrap Drop-off
670 Grand Concourse
8am-12pm Earth Matter
Friday, May 6 Bronx Fordham Plaza Food Scrap Drop-off
E Fordham Rd & 3rd Ave
8am-11:30am Earth Matter
Friday, May 6 Bronx Montefiore Fresh Food Box
871 Prospect Ave
11am-2pm Earth Matter
Friday, May 6 Bronx Parkchester Food Scrap Drop-off
Westchester Ave & White Plains Rd
8am-12pm Earth Matter
Friday, May 6 Brooklyn Cypress Hills Food Scrap Drop-off
Fulton St & Richmond St
10am-1pm Earth Matter
Friday, May 6 Brooklyn Crown Heights Farmstand
Eastern Parkway & Franklin Ave
8:30am-11:30am Earth Matter
Saturday, May 7 Brooklyn Kensington Food Scrap Drop-off
McDonald Ave & Albemarle Rd
8:30am-11:30am Earth Matter
Saturday, May 7 Brooklyn 7th Ave Sunset Park Greenmarket
7th Ave & 44th St
8am-12pm Earth Matter
Saturday, May 7 Brooklyn Bay Ridge Greenmarket
3rd Ave & 95th Street
8am-12:30pm Earth Matter
Sunday, May 8 Brooklyn Bensonhurst Food Scrap Drop-off
18th Ave & 81st St
9am-1pm Earth Matter
Sunday, May 8 Brooklyn Carroll Gardens Greenmarket
Smith St and 1st Pl
8am-12pm Earth Matter
Sunday, May 8 Manhattan 77th/79th Sts Greenmarket
77th St between Columbus Ave & Central Park West
9am-3pm Earth Matter
Saturday, May 14 Brooklyn Fort Greene Greenmarket
Washington Park & Myrtle Ave
9am-2pm Earth Matter
Saturday, May 14 Brooklyn Bed-Stuy Fresh Food Box
Decatur St and Lewis Ave
11am-3pm Earth Matter
Saturday, May 14 Manhattan Abingdon Sq. Greenmarket
W12th St & 8th Ave
8am-2pm Earth Matter
Saturday, May 14 Manhattan Tribeca Greenmarket
Greenwich St & Duane St
8am-1pm Earth Matter
Saturday, May 14 Manhattan Inwood Greenmarket
Seaman Ave & Isham St (N corner)
8am-12pm Earth Matter
Sunday, May 15 Brooklyn Cortelyou Greenmarket
Argyle Rd and Cortelyou Rd
9am-1pm Earth Matter
Sunday, May 15 Manhattan Columbia Greenmarket
116th St & Broadway
8am-12pm Earth Matter
Sunday, May 15 Manhattan Asphalt Green Food Scrap Drop-off
East 91st St & York Ave
7:30am-12:30pm Earth Matter
Friday, June 24 Bronx Lincoln Hospital Greenmarket
149th St b/t Park and Morris Aves
8am-12pm Earth Matter

How to Use Compost

You don’t need to have a backyard or garden to have a use for compost. Indoor plants benefit from an annual application of compost, and we all have access to street trees that can use some love. We recommend mixing your compost into soil at a ratio of at least 3 parts soil to 1 part compost for best results.

  • For outdoor plants: Rake, sprinkle, or mix the compost into the soil of garden or tree beds.
  • For indoor plants: Gently mix an inch of compost into the top layer of potting soil, or blend with potting soil when repotting.

Compost is not shelf-stable, and will not store well. Please use your compost within a week or two of receiving it.

Our small Compost Giveback bags are also compostable. Please remove the tin tie and sticker before bringing the empty bag back to a GrowNYC Food Scrap Drop-off site for composting.

Looking for a larger quantity of compost?

The GrowNYC Compost Program has the opportunity to give out finished compost bags made at the Staten Island Compost Site by the Department of Sanitation. We have 150 bags of approximately 30 lbs. each that we can deliver to interested participants at our designated food scrap drop-off sites for pick-up. Please fill out our form to request finished compost and we'll get in touch with you. Note that due to limited supplies, we cannot guarantee that you will be able to receive finished compost. The Department of Sanitation is also listing options for receiving or picking up larger quantities of finished compost on their website here

What is compost, anyway?

During Compost Giveback events, there’s often some confusion about what we’re giving away and why. Here are a few definitions to know:

  • Food Scraps (noun) – the uneaten foods or parts of food. Calling these items scraps, rather than waste, highlights their value and potential for beneficial use, including human and animal consumption of rescued edible foods, composting, and anaerobic digestion.

  • Composting (verb) - the process of aerobic, biological decomposition that transforms organic materials like food scraps and fallen leaves into compost.

  • Compost (noun) – a soil amendment that resembles dark, crumbly topsoil, has a pleasant earthy smell, and has no resemblance to the original organic materials from which it is made. Compost refers to the finished product of the composting process, and is not to be confused with food scraps, which are just one ingredient in the composting process.

  • Soil (noun) – the upper layer of earth in which plants grow. Healthy soil consists of 45% minerals, 25% water, 25% air, and 5% organic matter. Soil is not to be confused with compost, which is a soil amendment that adds organic matter and beneficial microbes to soil.


When you drop off your food scraps with GrowNYC, we bring them to composting facilities, where they’re mixed with carbon-rich materials like leaves and wood chips, and transformed into compost. The finished compost can be used to improve soil quality for houseplants, gardens, and street trees alike.

Additional Resources


The compost giveback is made possible by funding from the NYC Department of Sanitation.

 

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