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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Emily Farrell, Student in marine affairs program at New York Harbor School
2:42:18
ยท
160 sec
Emily Farrell, a high school senior from the New York Harbor School, testifies about the importance of community composting and the need for better education and resources to promote it. She emphasizes the differences between community and municipal composting, highlighting the benefits of community composting for soil health, waste reduction, and community building.
- Calls for more widespread distribution of community composting bins throughout the city, including in restaurants
- Advocates for better promotion of composting events and resources to reach a wider audience
- Shares personal experiences with composting and learning about organizations like Earth Matter through her school
High School Senior
2:42:18
name is Emily Farrell, I'm from the New York Harbor School.
2:42:21
Dear committee, first and foremost, Gail Brewer is my council member and I thank her and the rest of the committee greatly for all they have done so far.
2:42:27
Though their efforts have impacted my community positively, there is still so much more that could be done.
2:42:32
Many people have altered or untrue perceptions of composting that lead to influence of whether they decide to compost or not.
2:42:38
The true facts of composting should be spread whether it's in school or through a news article to make sure people aren't influenced by these rumors.
2:42:45
Contrary to many people's knowledge, community and municipal composting are very different.
2:42:50
Community composting is the only type that actually gets turned into compost.
2:42:54
These organizations like Earth Matter and BK Rot take this waste and mix it with other organic matter to create compost.
2:43:00
Municipal composting isn't composting at all.
2:43:02
Composting is important as it reduces the reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, improves soil health and reduces landfill waste and carbon emission.
2:43:10
Composting also reduces the pest breaking into trash cans searching for food.
2:43:14
Not only this, but composting builds community.
2:43:17
When people come together to compost, they build friendships through teamwork and activity.
2:43:21
The municipality takes this waste and brings it to Newtown Creek to go into an egg and mix with wastewater.
2:43:27
Both are important but it's important for these perceptions of each to not overlap.
2:43:30
All my life, my mom has brought our compost to the farmer's market by our house every Sunday.
2:43:35
My dad would always get annoyed with the compost because he didn't understand what the benefit of this was.
2:43:39
If he had known the facts from the start, he would have been way more supportive of this.
2:43:43
Community composting organizations should have access to resources that will spread this information not only to people looking for it but also people who aren't.
2:43:50
The LES Ecology Center is currently the longest running compost organization in NYC.
2:43:55
Their website is highly educational for anyone looking to learn about composting or where to drop off their food waste.
2:44:02
The only issue is the average person wouldn't know how to look for this website.
2:44:05
Resources are useless if people don't know they exist.
2:44:08
LES Ecology Center and other similar websites should be normalized for people outside the loop of composting knowledge.
2:44:14
There are countless composting events and drop off areas planned, but these events need to be promoted on more than just a website in order for a large number of people to know they exist.
2:44:22
Through my school, the New York Harbor School, I've been given the opportunity to spend lots of time at a composting organization called Earth Matter in order to fully understand the composting process and how important is.
2:44:31
Before Harbor School, I had never even heard of Earth Matter, much less know what it's about.
2:44:35
Through community composting is up and running, there are lots of things that can happen to keep this increase going.
2:44:41
Community composting bins should be distributed through the city more frequently so it's more normalized for people to throw away food waste in these bins.
2:44:47
This should be an option in restaurants as well as restaurants have a lot of food waste.
2:44:51
If these steps are taken, community composting will no longer seem like an out of the ordinary thing to do but instead be normalized and implemented well.
Shaun Abreu
2:44:58
Thank you so much.