All-SWAB Staten Island Compost Facility Tour

Staten Island Compost Facility

NYC Dept. of Sanitation’s Bureau of Solid Waste Management. Marguerite Manela guided us around the entire composting processing center, where the City’s yard waste including leaves, tree branches, and other landscaping discards – along with some of New Yorkers’ food scraps (from schools and drop-off sites) – are turned into mountain-high compost windrows seen in the photo. (Photo credit: Aline Reynolds)

The facilities organics intake and processing areas. Note the green FSDO toters to the left. (Photo credit: Aline Reynolds)

Marguerite shows the group the Tiger HS640 machine depackaging system, which separates organic material (to be composted) from the non-compostable bags carrying it. (Photo credit: Aline Reynolds)

Tour participants get a look at the output from the Tiger HS640 machine. The non-compostable bags that the machine detects are separated out from the organics into the dumpster, and the organics material is collected in the truck (shown behind it) to then be moved into the field to form the windrows. (Photo credit: Aline Reynolds)

The robotic compost bagger, which bags the compost at the end of the process. (Photo credit: Aline Reynolds)

Members walk one of sixteen of the newly constructed aerated static pile (ASP) composting bays designed by Sustainable Generation to increase capacity and improve processing efficiency. (Photo credit: Aline Reynolds)

One of the newly constructed ASP pads. (Photo credit: Aline Reynolds)

DSNY’s own 2022 Annual Fiscal YTD report cites on average 29 tons of organics are collected each day in NYC compared with 8,500 tons of commingled refuse containing organic food waste destined for landfill or incineration. (Photo credit: Aline Reynolds)

Marguerite stands before a conveyor of sifted NYC yard waste and food scraps. In 2022 $19 million was budgeted to support curbside collection and food scrap drop-offs (FSDOs), $7.5 million for collection in schools, and $4 million for fall, leaf and yard collection. (Photo credit: Aline Reynolds)

Members of the Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Bronx SWABs who attended the April 24th tour of the Staten Island compost facility, gather for a photo. (Photo credit: Aline Reynolds)

Green toters from NYC drop-off sites empty for cleaning and drying before going out to sites across the five boroughs. These non-exported food scrap drop-offs (FSDO’s) operated by DSNY are currently experiencing closures in under-served areas due in large part to the NYC Compost Smart Bin roll out in these communities. (Photo credit: Aline Reynolds)

On Monday morning April 24th, over a dozen bright-eyed, inquisitive SWAB members – representing all 3 SWABs – went on a tour of the Staten Island (SI) Compost Facility led by Marguerite Manela, from the NYC Dept. of Sanitation’s Bureau of Solid Waste Management. Marguerite guided us around the entire composting processing center, where the City’s yard waste including leaves, tree branches, and other landscaping discards – along with some of New Yorkers’ food scraps (from schools and drop-off sites) – are converted into mountain-high mounds of compost. About 60% of the SI Facility’s compost product is sold to landscapers and the remaining 40% distributed within NYC.

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Marguerite Manela, DSNY (Photo by: Aline Reynolds)

In the coming weeks, the SI Facility will start to test out it’s brand new aerated static pile (ASP) composting infrastructure  – with the goal of significantly expanding its capacity for accepting and processing a greater tonnage of the City's discarded organics into compost. It was a fascinating tour! More details to follow.