West Village Gets New Composting Site On Hudson River

WEST VILLAGE, NY — There's good news for Manhattanites who were left without composting options when the city suspended its pickup program during the pandemic: community compost sites have reopened along the Hudson River waterfront, including a brand-new site in the West Village.

Ten drop-off sites are located along four miles of Hudson River Park, which stretches along the waterside from 59th Street down to Battery Park City.

The West Village compost site is located at Pier 46 at Charles Street.

The 10 sites now open for the fall include three new ones: the Pier 96 Boathouse at West 55th Street, Pier 66 at West 26th Street and the West Village location. The sites are open every day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., accepting any of the following items: fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, rice, pasta, bread, cereal, eggs, nutshells and flowers.

The Hudson River Park Trust started composting horticulture waste like grass clippings and pruned trees in 2015, and later launched its Community Compost Program in partnership with the Department of Sanitation and Council Member Corey Johnson's office.

Workers mix donated food scraps with horticulture waste to form a compost mixture that can be used on plant beds and trees in the park.

The program has been increasingly popular: last year, the Trust collected about 86,000 pounds of food scraps, up from 70,000 pounds in 2018. They estimate that the program has diverted 450,000 pounds of scraps from landfills since its inception.

"Composting food scraps has become an embedded part of New Yorkers' routines and we are proud to welcome them back to the Park as the program starts back up again this fall," Madelyn Wils, President and CEO of the Hudson River Park Trust, said in a news release.

Here are the 10 composting sites open daily in Hudson River Park:

• Pier 25 at North Moore Street
• Pier 40 at Morton Street
• Pier 46 at Charles Street (NEW)
• Pier 51 at Horatio Street
• 14th Street Park at West 14th Street
• Chelsea Waterside Park at West 23rd Street
• Pier 66 at West 26th Street (NEW)
• Hudson River Park's Compost Center at West 34th Street
• Pier 84 at West 44th Street
• Pier 96 Boathouse at West 55th Street (NEW)

Patch reporter Nick Garber contributed to this report.