You can sign up for Curbside Composting online or by phone.

After you sign up, the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) will let you know if you're in an eligible neighborhood and notify you when service will start in your area.

If you don't live in an area where Curbside Composting is offered yet, DSNY will let you know if the service will expand to your area. DSNY wants to hear from everyone interested in Curbside Composting as it helps to make the case to expand this service to more neighborhoods.

Online

Sign up for Curbside Composting.

By Phone

Participants in Curbside Composting can only use brown outdoor composting bins issued by the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) to throw out their food and yard waste.

If you do not already have a brown bin, you can request one when you sign up, and it will be delivered before your service begins. Participating buildings will be given brown bins before service starts if they no longer have a bin.

Bin Liners and Bags

You must use bin liners or bags in your brown bin.

To line the brown bin, you can use a:

• Clear, untinted plastic liner or bag
• Paper bag
• Certified compostable liner with BPI-USCC logo (Biodegradable Products Institute - US Composting Council)

You cannot use small plastic shopping bags or black plastic bags to line the bin.

To line your indoor kitchen container, you can use:

• Small shopping bags
• Newspaper
• Brown paper bags
• Small certified compostable bags

Replacement Bins

If your brown bin is lost or has been damaged or stolen, you can request a new one.

If you qualify to receive a replacement bin, you may need to pick it up from one of the bin distribution locations. The pick-up location will be provided after your request has been reviewed.

Request a replacement brown bin.

Items Accepted

Food Waste

You can put food waste in your brown compost bin, including:

• Food scraps
• Coffee grounds and tea bags
• Shells (seafood, nut, and egg)
• Bones
• Spoiled and expired food
• Food-soiled paper (napkins, towels, uncoated plates, bags, trays, or boxes)

Yard Waste

You can put small amounts of yard waste in your brown composting bin, such as:

• Leaves
• Small twigs and branches
• House plants
• Grass

If your yard waste can’t fit in the bin with the lid closed, or to save room in the bin for food waste, you can:

• Put it in a rigid unlined container labeled “Yard Waste”
• Put it in a paper lawn and leaf bag
• Tie it into bundles 2 feet by 4 feet or smaller

Do not use plastic bags. Yard waste set out in plastic bags will be collected as trash.

Items Not Accepted

You can’t put any of the following items in the brown organics bin:

• Trash, including
  • Diapers and hygienic products
  • Animal waste or kitty litter
  • Wrappers and packaging
  • Foam products
• Recyclables, including
  • Metal
  • Glass
  • Plastic
  • Beverage cartons
  • Clean recyclable paper
  • Cardboard

You can get bin decals, brochures, guides, and stickers showing what items to put in your brown bin.

Download or request Department of Sanitation materials.

In general, there is no collection on sanitation holidays, but that is subject to change. You can check back near the date of the holiday to confirm the collection schedule.

• If a holiday occurs on your trash or compost collection day, put your items out after 4 PM that day for collection beginning the next day.
• If a holiday occurs on your recycling collection day, put your items out after 4 PM the day before your next scheduled recycling collection day.

2021 Sanitation Holidays