Dyker Heights poised to start organics recycling

Organics recycling is coming next month to Dyker Heights.

The voluntary program, run under the auspices of the city’s Department of Sanitation, is already being piloted in Bay Ridge, so the addition of Dyker is a natural extension, and means that all of Community Board 10 will be included.

According to Andrew Hoyles, outreach manager for the Organics Program, Dyker residents will be getting special brown pails to store compostable material in between pickups and mini-containers to keep kitchen scraps in beginning in the next few days, with organics recycling scheduled to start the week of October 3.

Hoyles said that area residents should put their compostables – including food scraps, leaves, lawn clippings and other plant-based yard refuse – out in the special brown containers twice weekly for their regular garbage pickups.

“If it grows, it goes,” he told the crowd at the September meeting of the Dyker Heights Civic Association, held at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, 11th Avenue and 80th Street.

The benefits are myriad, Hoyles stressed. Both “usable finished compost” and energy can be created from the scraps, while reducing the amount of garbage sent to landfills. In addition, using the special bins means that streets are cleaner, according to Hoyles, as the special brown containers have raccoon latches and are designed to be rodent-proof.

Residents are asked to line the pails with either clear plastic or compostable bags, though Hoyles said that is not required.
Because the program is voluntary and not available in every part of the city, no residents will be fined for not taking part for the foreseeable future, though Hoyles said that could be revisited once the program is available across the five boroughs.

“There are no tickets for not participating, but I think you should give it a try,” he told the group. “If you’re not sure about food scraps, try it with lawn clippings and leaves.”

Nonetheless, residents present at the meeting expressed concerns, with one saying she wouldn’t try it because she works and wouldn’t want the pail left out all day to let potential thieves know she is not at home, and one man contending, “The program is really a waste of time. I’d rather see Sanitation concentrating on cleaning up the city.”