TESTIMONY
Anna Sacks, Co-Founder of the SaveOurCompost Coalition, on Restoring Funding for Community Composting Programs and Education in New York City
7:38:52
·
130 sec
Sacks advocates for restoring $7 million for operations and $4 million in capital costs to fund community composting sites, particularly for organizations like Big Reuse facing eviction threats.
- She argues the current 4% organic waste capture rate in Queens is unacceptably low compared to places like Seattle with 60%
- Cutting costs for composting education undermines the city's expansion of organic collection and sets it up for an expensive failure
- Investing in education and programs like Zero Waste Schools is critical to increasing participation and reducing costly trash collection
- The most expensive outcome is having to collect full trash bins with unmaxed organics diversion
Anna Sacks
7:38:52
Thank you for hearing me.
7:38:53
I wanted to express a port for restoring community composting.
7:38:57
So that is $7,000,000 for operations and $4,000,000 in capital cost for building out the promised sites for Big Reuse and Lori Psyaticology, especially as Big Reuse is facing this eviction from the parks department.
7:39:12
Assuming that nothing changes in the parks commissioner and the mayor the mayor's administration insists on evicting big reuse, there will be no more community composting for them.
7:39:22
So even if the budget is restored, where are they going to do the community composting?
7:39:26
So we do need that additional $4,000,000 to build out that sense at the additional community composting site.
7:39:34
I wanna comment that I think this is what a customer of everybody was getting at at the hearing the commissioner, I don't think I understood the question, but the capillary.
7:39:42
So I think he was asking about what is the current capillary?
7:39:45
Meaning, the amount of organic that they're able that the residents actually put in their bound bins.
7:39:51
They separate them out to participate in the program.
7:39:54
The current capillary in Queens is 4%.
7:39:57
Meaning the majority of what's the of the organic 96% is actually going into the trash.
7:40:05
Previously in 2018 2019 when in the same districts and Queens, there was a 7% cap rate.
7:40:12
In Seattle, the organic capture rate is 60%.
7:40:16
So we can get there.
7:40:17
We just need the upfront investment.
7:40:19
In it.
7:40:19
And that is through community composting education.
7:40:22
So it really doesn't make sense to be cutting cost to this as New York City's expanding the organic collection.
7:40:29
We're setting ourselves up for failure and for a very expensive failure.
7:40:34
So I think that we need to continue to invest meaning composting, continuing to invest in education outreach.
7:40:40
I also wanna say that the 0 way schools program, again, it's the same thing.
7:40:43
We're investing in our own failure by adding these costs, we need to invest in the success of these programs because the most expensive thing that we're going to face is the collection cost.
7:40:54
And if you're sending around empty trash
Keisha Lewis
7:40:57
Thank you so much.
7:40:58
Your time has expired.
Anna Sacks
7:41:00
Thank you.
7:41:00
Offers the top and swap.
7:41:01
Thank you.