Pulse Magazine
Spring 2017
Reuse. Reread. Recycle
Photo Courtesy of Josh Cohen
By Joshua Cohen
Ask Andrew Olesh about the most important aspect of his job at the Queens Botanical Garden and he has one answer, “To change minds and inspire hearts about environmental stewardship.”
That’s why Olesh, the outreach coordinator for the NYC Compost Project, has worked continually to educate New Yorkers about the benefits of composting and organic farming, so they can take responsibility into their own hands.
Every year, Americans produce approximately 254 million tons of waste, which meet their fate in one of the more than 2,000 active landfills across the country. According to the EPA, that’s enough trash to reach the moon and back 25 times. However, burying all this waste can cause toxic, hazardous environments and produce gasses such as methane, a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more potent that carbon dioxide.
Thus, New York City has outlined its ambitious goal to eliminate the need to send waste to out-of-state landfills by adopting the mantra, “0 by 30.” Established in 2015, under the OneNYC plan, Mayor de Blasio has stated that by 2030, New York City will send zero waste to landfills; instead, adopting solid waste management plans to increase recycling programs in housing buildings and schools and expanding curbside organic collection to over 700,000 New Yorkers.
“Regardless of what is occurring on a nationwide, statewide, or even city-wide basis, we strive to give people the knowledge and skills necessary to make a difference themselves, borough by borough,” says Andrew Olesh, 30, who has been apart of the NYC Compost Project since early 2016.
Olesh, in conjunction with New York City’s Department of Sanitation has been working with the Compost Project in seven locations across New York City to provide environmental education in communities and to bridge large-scale waste reduction plans to community levels through social engagement and environmental awareness.
“A third of the items we throw away are suitable for composting and to be diverted from landfills,” says Olesh, a firm believer that the plans in place will be overwhelmingly beneficial for the environment, “Making the public aware is the first and most important step.”
- Olesh
Locations across the city, like the borough Botanical Gardens, are opening their doors to children and adults of all ages to teach them the best practices to reduce harm on the environment. By implementing beginner workshops, like the Compost 101 class that Olesh hosts through the months of March and April, the DSNY hopes to replenish city soils by giving New Yorkers the knowledge, skills, and opportunities they need to become better informed about zero waste options and by bringing the fight against waste into their own backyards.
Organizations such as GrowNYC, Urban Advantage, and GreenThumb, among others, are employing full-time community programs, events, and waste management booths to get residents actively involved in their communities and environments. These efforts are a prelude to the curbside organic collection bins the Department of Sanitation expects to implement by the end of 2018 via brown bins.
New York City public schools have also started to incorporate zero waste policies. Partnering with the Department of Sanitation, the NYC Department of Education and GrowNYC want to help children become zero waste ambassadors for the future by launching the Zero Waste Schools pilot program in 2016 in over 70 elementary, middle, and high schools. These schools have been set up as model recycling and organics schools to generate data on the best practices that can be expanded to all public and private schools in New York City by 2018.
Marnie Rackmill, the Professional Development Manager at the Queens Botanical Gardens says these programs are a huge step in reaching New York City’s ambitious goal. “It’s most important to get children to understand zero waste for themselves. It really is amazingly hard to do.”
Rackmill works directly with educators across the city to figure out best practices to teach environmental issues to their students and to encourage zero waste initiatives. She instructs five-day courses throughout the year on using plants as building blocks to understand and teach concepts with a focus on school gardens. Rackmill says, “It raises the question of, how do I transfer all this knowledge into my school environment? How can I make my students more environmentally active?”
While the OneNYC plan ventures towards its ultimate goal of eliminating waste, Olesh believes the plan’s outlined goals are more feasible through the commitment of citizens at a community level.
“It all trickles down to inspiring hearts about environmental stewardship and getting involved in society,” says Olesh. “Not everyone can do everything. But everyone can do something.”
