By the Bronxville Green Committee

Nov. 20, 2024: We’ve all heard the shocking statistics about food waste and what it costs our economy and the environment every year. This year, it’s never been easier to beat those numbers. Here are two steps you can take to make a big impact:

-Practice better purchasing, storing, and food use habits. See suggestions HERE.

-Recycle your food waste! Bronxville residents now have drop off, pick up and DIY choices:

1) Bronxville Village’s FREE Food Scrap Recycling DROP OFF Program:

Over three hundred Bronxville families participate in this program; by June 2024, 2 ½ years after its launch, more the 103 tons of food scraps had been collected!

The process is as easy as 1-2-3! Just COLLECT your food scraps (ALL types of food scraps are accepted), STORE & TRANSFER in a secure transfer bin, and DROP OFF behind Village Hall for commercial composting.

Learn more about this program and sign up HERE.

2) Hudson Compost’s FEE BASED MEMBERSHIP Food Scrap Recycling PICK UP service: This Westchester-based for-profit business, which originated in the River Towns in 2019, now offers Bronxville residents of single-family homes weekly curbside pickup of ALL food scraps, for a monthly or annual fee. This is the only company currently offering this residential service in our area, and you may have recently received a direct mail piece offering a year-end promotion. This service is not yet available to multifamily rental or co-op residents.  Learn more HERE.

3) DIY Backyard composting: You can set up a covered bin or collection site in your yard.  Mix one part food scraps with two parts organic yard waste such as leaves or grass clippings.  Add a little moisture and air (by turning the pile) and you’ll soon have compost that you can use in your planting beds.  The upside: You eliminate all transportation impacts from transporting food scraps long distances. The downside: you can ONLY compost vegetable scraps.  No dairy, meat, or bones.

And don’t forget your holiday pumpkins and gourds! All residents may drop these off at the Food Scrap Recycling bins on Palumbo Place behind Village Hall; like the food scraps, they will be taken to a commercial compost facility and turned into a rich soil amendment.  Please don’t over fill the bins, which will break from the extra weight. Instead, place whole pumpkins and gourds in empty bins or on the ground beside them.

With these tips in mind, and a little ingenuity, we can all rise to the challenge of reducing food waste this Thanksgiving!

The Bronxville Green Committee is a volunteer organization that is part of the Village of Bronxville. We work to propose and implement environmentally sustainable programs in our community. Visit our website and follow us on Instagram @bxvgreencommittee to learn more.