About BIG!Compost

What we do:

BIG!Compost, a program of Build It Green!NYC, is a community-scale composting network, that works to increase capacity for, acceptance of, and participation in composting in western Queens. We serve the public by hosting weekly and event-specific food scrap drop-offs, training community members in urban composting best practices, and providing high-quality compost to amend our city’s soils. The finished compost is used in community gardens, on street trees, and in public beautification projects.

Why we do it:

Each year, NYC’s residents throw away 650,000 tons of food scraps, most of which is transported hundreds of miles away to landfills through a system that disproportionately burdens low-income neighborhoods and permanently discards potential assets.  In these landfills, the food breaks down anaerobically, generating local air pollution and methane - a powerful climate change gas. Meanwhile, street tree stewards, conservation groups, parks, and community gardeners are confronted with the enormous challenge of growing their projects in poor quality soils and are forced to source healthier growing medium from outside the city. BIG!Compost’s work tackles these challenges simultaneously by providing a local solution for organics recycling and producing a source of remediation and revitalization for NYC’s urban soils: compost.

Contact BIG!Compost:

General Questions
em: compost@bignyc.org
ph: 718-777-0132 x6

BIG!Compost (formerly known as the Western Queens Compost Initiative), a program of Build It Green!NYC, accepts and processes food scraps as part of the NYC Compost Project Local Organics Recovery Program funded by the NYC Department of Sanitation, and receives support from the North Star Fund’s Greening Western Queens Fund.