(Photo Credit: Maurice Mercado/City of Yonkers)
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano today announced the Yonkers Department of Public Works (DPW) is launching a new Curbside Food Scrap Collection pilot program, expanding its food scrap recycling initiative in partnership with Westchester County’s Department of Environmental Facilities. Two hundred households at 1085 Warburton Avenue are the first participants in the pilot program, which will serve as a model for expanding to other buildings and households.
“Since its launch last spring, we have seen great success with our Food Scrap Collection program, collecting between three to four hundred pounds of food scraps per week,” said Mayor Spano. “Now, by focusing on food scrap recycling at residential buildings, we are supporting participation among residents who may not otherwise be able to participate due to a lack of yard space for backyard composting or transportation to the Recycling Center. With our partnership with the County, our hope is eventually to make curbside food scrap collection available citywide, which will increase our recycling efforts and better protect our environment.”
As part of the curbside collection pilot program, the City of Yonkers provides each household with a food scrap kit, including a countertop pail, a larger storage bin, and a roll of compostable bags. Residents are able to empty their bin as often as necessary into two of the City’s large toters located at the building’s designated food scrap drop-off site. Yonkers DPW crews pick up the building’s food scraps twice a week on regular refuse collection days. The City then transfers the food scraps to a compost facility in northern Westchester through a partnership with Westchester County. Yonkers DPW will track the amount of food scraps diverted from the waste stream through this pilot program. The City plans to expand the program to up to 500 households during the initial phase, and is also exploring food scrap collection at Yonkers Public Schools as early as next school year.
Last spring, the City of Yonkers launched its citywide food scrap recycling program at the Yonkers Recycling Center (735 Saw Mill River Road), which allows residents to drop off their household food scraps for composting. Home food scrap kits are available for purchase ($20) at the Yonkers Recycling Center. Kits include one 1.9 gallon countertop pail, one six-gallon home storage and transportation bin and a roll of 25 compostable bags. Filled bags can be dropped off at the Yonkers Recycling Center during regular operating hours. Diverting food scraps lowers the City’s solid waste disposal costs, reduces household waste and reduces the amount of waste transferred for incineration at the Charles Point Resource Recovery Facility.
Westchester County Executive George Latimer stated, “This pilot program launch is another step toward our goal in Westchester County of utilizing every means necessary to reduce what we put in the waste stream. With Westchester’s largest City on board under the leadership of Mayor Mike Spano, our food scrap recycling program is well on its way to producing the results we were aiming for when first launched.”
Under the County’s Residential Food Scrap Transportation and Disposal (RFSTAD) program, the County’s Department of Environmental Facilities arranges for the consolidation, transportation, and processing of food scraps collected by municipalities. The County’s participation reduces the cost so that it is the same as– or less than — the transportation and disposal cost of garbage, making food scrap recycling feasible for municipalities that otherwise would not be able to offer this service. With the City’s participation, Yonkers is the largest municipality in Westchester’s Residential Food Scrap Transportation and Disposal program.
Residents can visit the Yonkers Recycling Center, at 735 Saw Mill River Road, Mondays – Saturdays, 7:30am-4:15pm. For more information on Yonkers food scrap recycling program, including acceptable food scrap items and how to participate, visit www.yonkersny.gov/foodscraps.
