Take Part In Carroll Gardens' Greenmarket Compost Winter Warrior Challenge

If you aren't already taking part in the Carroll Gardens Greenmarket GROWNYC Food Scrap Compost program, here is an added incentive to get you started. Sign up to participate in the Compost Winter Warrior Challenge. It couldn't be easier. Drop off your fruit and vegetable scraps on Sundays between 8Am and 1 PM, sign in ten times before March 31, 2013 and win a big of finished compost.

 If you don't have a garden, you can donate your bag to Carroll Park, where the compost will add nutrients for the plants.

Click here for details on how and what to compost.

 More and more people have been taking part in the city-wide Food Scrap Compost program. Since
GROWNYC launched the pilot in March 2011, one million pounds of food scraps have been collected! That’s one million pounds of food scraps diverted from the waste stream.

GrowNYC and Department of Sanitation NY celebrated this milestone by issuing the statement below:

Crazy for Compost: One Million Pounds Collected

Successful Joint Initiative by GrowNYC and DSNY Meets Growing Demand for Food Scrap Collection in NYC 

January 7, 2013, NEW YORK, NY – On Sunday, Emily Rubenstein, Assistant Commissioner of Sanitation, Recycling and Sustainability at DSNY, City Council Member Brad Lander, Birdie NYC and GrowNYC Executive Director Marcel Van Ooyen announced the collection of one million pounds of food scraps which have been diverted from disposal and redirected for composting via a free program at 21 Greenmarkets in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island operated by GrowNYC.

The initiative began as a resoundingly successful pilot program in March 2011 featuring seven collection sites funded by Speaker Christine C. Quinn and the New York City Council. Demand quickly grew as shoppers at GrowNYC’s farmers markets learned of and participated in the program.

As public interest in food scrap collection sites grew, so did the program. New Yorkers can now drop off fruit and vegetable scraps for composting while shopping for healthy, local produce. GrowNYC staffs ‘Sustainability Centers’ where the public can simply deposit the week’s food waste, such as apple cores and coffee grounds, into collection tubs. The scraps are then transported by GrowNYC or the Department of Sanitation to one of several local sites in the five boroughs where material is transformed into a fertile soil amendment for use in urban farm and gardening programs.

Food comprises about 17% of NYC’s waste stream. When this material is sent to a landfill it contributes to NYC’s disposal costs and creates greenhouse gas emissions. When composted, food scraps and other organic waste is transformed into a useful product that adds nutrients and improves the quality of soil for street trees, gardens and more.

GrowNYC’s commitment to composting is not a new one. The organization, has hosted a collection site since 1994 at its Union Square Greenmarket, organized by the Lower East Side Ecology Center.

The current program expands this and other existing, ongoing collections conducted by BIG!Compost (formerly known as the Western Queens Compost Initiative) and the Ft. Greene Compost Project.

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A Bit Of Normalcy: Carroll Gardens Greenmarket Returns This Sunday

A bit of normalcy will return to Carroll Gardens this Sunday with the return of the  Greenmarket.

The hours will be as usual, but there will be NO food scrap collection.

Below is a notice from GROW NYC:

As residents around the city work together to recover from Hurricane Sandy, regional farmers are happy to return to neighborhood Greenmarkets, bringing with them a bountiful supply of fresh food! Whether you're re-stocking your own refrigerator, or cooking food for a fellow New Yorker in need, we look forward to seeing the community out in force at markets through the weekend.

For further post-Sandy updates on all Greenmarkets around the city, click here.

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It's Your Turn To Compost In Carroll Gardens

Collecting coffee grounds 

as well as peels and scraps

in a bin in my kitchen

Food Scrap Drop-Off every Sunday morning at the Carroll Gardens Green Market

Just drop your food scraps into one of the green bins

The scraps will be composted locally, where they will become fertile soil enrichment for local farming projects

Ever since the Carroll Gardens Greenmarket began taking part in the "GROWNYC Food Scrap Compost Program" in April of this year, I have been collecting my coffee grounds, egg shells and peels, so that I can drop them off at the market on Sunday mornings.
It's an easy way to keep organic waste out of our landfills and to turn it into a useful product that can be used to enrich soil for street trees, gardens, and local farms instead.
Perhaps you have been thinking about it? I encourage you to try, even if it is just for a week.

You'll see. It is actually a very easy way to be a bit greener. And that feels great.
Here is how to get started:

* During the week, collect your fruit and vegetable scraps, non-greasy food scraps (rice, pasta, bread, cereal etc.), coffee grounds & filters, tea bags, egg and nut shells, pits, cut or dried flowers, houseplants and potting soil.
****Please NO meat, chicken, fish, greasy food scraps, fat, oil, dairy, dog or cat waste, kitty litter, coal or charcoal, coconuts, diseased and/or insect-infested houseplants/soil or biodegradable/compostable plastics.

I use a medium sized covered plastic container lined with a paper bag.

* Drop off your scraps at the Carroll Gardens Greenmarket on Sunday mornings, from 8 am to 1 PM.  (The bins are on the Smith Street side.)

Then do your weekly produce shopping.

*The collected scraps are composted right at the Salt Lot at 2nd Avenue in Gowanus through the Gowanus Canal Conservancy.

For more info about the program, click here.

So you'll give it a try?

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Carroll Gardens Greenmarket Will Start Collecting Food Scraps For Composting Starting April 22st

I love this and I am pretty sure you will be excited about this as well. Starting on Sunday, April 22nd,The Carroll Gardens Greenmarket will now be part of the "GROWNYC Food Scrap Compost Program", which means that while you do your Sunday morning produce shopping, you can drop off your fruit and vegetable scraps, which will to be transported to a compost facility where they will become fertile soil enrichment for local farming projects. In addition to scraps, the Carroll Gardens Greenmarket will also start accepting used textiles.
Below is a note from Jessica Douglas, Regional Greenmarket Coordinator for Brooklyn. She writes:

"Hello Friends of Greenmarket! We are thrilled to announce that we will start collecting food scraps and textiles at the Carroll Gardens Greenmarket on Sunday April 22nd. The collection will be every Sunday, 8am to 1pm, and will be located on the corner of Smith and Carroll. Please help us spread the word by telling your friends and neighbors, sharing on facebook, tweeting, including information in community newsletters, posting on blogs, and generally shouting from the rooftops. Thanks so much for your continued support! Looking forward to seeing you at the market (with food scraps and old clothes in hand) on Sunday the 22nd. Cheers,  Jessica"

According to the Grow New York web site:

Accepted materials include fruit and vegetable scraps, non-greasy food scraps (rice, pasta, bread, cereal etc.), coffee grounds & filters, tea bags, egg and nut shells, pits, cut or dried flowers, houseplants and potting soil.

****Please NO meat, chicken, fish, greasy food scraps, fat, oil, dairy, dog or cat waste, kitty litter, coal or charcoal, coconuts, diseased and/or insect-infested houseplants/soil or biodegradable/compostable plastics.

As far as the Textile Collection, clean and dry clothing, paired shoes, bedding, linens, hats, handbags, belts, fabric scraps 36" x 36" or larger and other textiles are accepted. They do not accept rugs or carpeting.

More info here.


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Stay "Green" This Halloween: Costume Swap In Gowanus

Halloween may just have gotten even more fun this year. And perhaps a bit greener and more affordable, too. Instead of spending a lot of money on your costume, how about swapping your old one for a free one? And in the process, enjoy some great activities.

Halloween Costume Swap at Build It Green! NYC - Gowanus

69 9th Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn

FRIDAY, October 28th 3pm – 6pm

RSVP for the event here

SCARE YOUR FRIENDS, NOT YOUR WALLET!

"Free GrowNYC Halloween Costume Swap keeps Halloween Black, Orange and Green!

Not impressing Bella with last year’s vampire outfit? Bring last year's clean costumes, accessories and funky clothing or just help yourself to some free Halloween fashion at GrowNYC’s Halloween Costume Swap. Swap items limited to clothing, costumes, and accessories only please.

Take a sneak peek at Build It Green! NYC’s new non-profit salvage surplus warehouse in Gowanus, Brooklyn - their second reuse center in the city! Activities include recycled cardboard mask-making with Solar One, spoke flowers hand crafting with Recycle-A-Bicycle, Halloween-themed music, a bone-chilling haunted house, festive family-friendly movies to watch, and an apple/donut-eating contest thanks to GrowNYC’s Greenmarket! There will also be a raffle for a children’s bike, thanks to Recycle-A-Bicycle."

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