KCC Urban Farm compost

Great news from PlaNYC! In the first 6 months of the city’s composting pilot program, over 2,500 tons of solid waste has been diverted from city landfills. That’s a lot of waste! The current pilot is running with curbside pickup in Staten Island and a handful of restaurants throughout the city. The Food Waste Challenge, which encourages restaurants to reduce food waste in city landfills by 50%, is part of the larger PlaNYC challenge to divert 75% of all solid waste from landfills by 2030. Despite still being in its adolescent stage, this initiative is expected to make significant changes to the way New Yorkers handle their waste.

Composting at KCC Urban Farm in Brooklyn is big! Our compost comes from Farm leftovers, as well as waste from Kingsborough’s Culinary Arts program. We have plans to revamp our current system as well as to develop a new, campus-wide collection and processing system. While this new program hasn’t yet gotten off the ground, our larger goal is engage the campus community with drop-offs for faculty, staff, students and other campus entities, as well as creating a more robust and collaborative system of learning for everyone involved. If you’re interested in learning more about composting or would like to be involved in this new initiative, contact the KCC Urban Farm (kccurbanfarm@kbcc.cuny.edu or 718.368.6578) for site visits or a list of our Continuing Education classes.