Domino Park Composting Project
We are all facing a truly unprecedented situation. The global COVID-19 pandemic affects all of our families, our businesses, our communities, and our way of life. Our hearts go out to anyone who has been impacted by the virus, either directly or indirectly. Our thoughts are especially with those who are sick, to whom we extend our heartfelt wishes for a full recovery.
We want to share a great story about how Domino Park composting program in New York City during COVID makes a difference. Click on any picture to see the video!
The New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) announced on April 17 that, due to COVID-19 budget cuts, it was suspending the voluntary curbside composting program for food scraps and yard trimmings, beginning May 4, 2020. When New York city abruptly halted composting initiatives, many residents tried to figure out alternative options and others decided to expand its existing organics operation. On June 1, 2020, the privately operated Domino Park expanded its composting program, offering the North Brooklyn community a better way to dispose of the scraps using an A900 Rocket composter.
Domino's Park response to the pandemic -– led by its director Michael Lampariello and director of horticulture, Nathan Bartholomew, set up a Food Scrap Drop-Off program to help the community and ensure food scraps was a resource instead of being landfilled. Each week, North Brooklyn's residents are welcome to bring their food scraps – fruit, vegetables, garden waste, bread, ground coffee, and others. The park's A900 Rocket composter house inside a 20" container is composting the program's food scraps.
Nathan Bartholomew comments, "the Rocket Composter, a static in-vessel with a central mixing shaft, provides continuous and uniform aeration to the mass redistributing heat and moisture as the shaft rotates. In 14 days, the systems transform the food waste into compost. It is a continuous process; once you closed the 14 days loop, you get compost every day!"
He continues, "but what we love about this project is its truly circular and sustainable nature. The produced compost goes back to the park lawns, green areas and free of charge for other public spaces. Most importantly, it is given back to the community for personal use, closing the recycling loop on-site."
He continues, "but what we love about this project is its truly circular and sustainable nature. The produced compost goes back to the park lawns, green areas and free of charge for other public spaces. Most importantly, it is given back to the community for personal use, closing the recycling loop on-site."
This closed-loop, community-redistribution model means that North Brooklyn's residents can effectively minimize and divert the amount of food waste going to landfill. This unique initiative is happening while the city's compost pick-ups are not taking place. And this community spirit is something to be replicated at many other sites in New York City and other cities in the U.S.!
A community composting redistribution model impacts and benefits the community in many ways. Including improving local soils, there are few trucks hauling food waste and decreasing CO2 emissions, job creation, healthier neighborhoods, food security for the community, community empowerment, and education. And it's a fun and rewarding project.
The educational component is significant at Domino's park. Many people who bring their food scraps to the site ask about the Rocket composter's composting process. With a big smile on his face, Nathan Bartholomew explains the biological process and how technology can speed up the process. Many community members bring along their children, who get to feed their food scraps into the Rocket and then walk to the outlet to see the finished compost coming out. That immediate transformation between food scraps and compost is a "wow" experience that future sustainable citizens will never forget.
The 'drop-offs' take place weekly on Mondays between 10 am-12 pm and Thursday 6 pm-8 pm, and the Rocket Composter is set to remain in its home at Domino Park until next summer (June 2021) – and may even become a permanent program.
It seems that in a Post Covid era, sustainability will take a more critical role, and organics diversion from landfilling will be at the top of the list. Also, health will play a much more crucial role in our lives, and for many people eating healthy will be a priority. This latter part is where returning nutrients to the soil becomes vital; we need healthy soils. It makes more sense and tastes much better when buying local food than sourcing food from the other coast or another country.
Instead of hauling food scraps many miles away, decentralize sites similar to Domino park in each community makes more sense. Imagine adding a vegetable garden to the current Domino program, where North Brooklyn's residents will drop their food scraps and then pick up their local fresh veggies! These sites are ideal closed-loop models with significant potential and different structures, not for profits, for-profit companies, partnerships of a for-profit and a not-for-profit, etc.
Domino Park is a newly-designed waterfront public space that offers excellent views of the Manhattan skyline. The June 2018 opening of Domino Park represents the early fulfillment of a pledge by Two Trees Management Company to deliver 6-acres of public open space to the North Williamsburg community. Conceived by Two Trees in partnership with landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations (the High Line lead designers), Domino Park is an unrivaled quarter-mile public park located just north of the Williamsburg Bridge that celebrates the history of one of New York's most iconic industrial waterfront sites.
