“From coastal resiliency and sustainable green practices to the preservation of affordable housing, world-class public art, and vibrant, year-round programming in award-winning public spaces, Battery Park City leads the way in many of the measures that makes cities livable."
Battery Park City’s Dog Waste Compost program launched as a pilot initiative during Climate Week 2019 after the Authority researched peer organizations also working to sustainability manage this waste stream.
Earlier that year, BPCA Parks Operations staff visited their counterparts at Marsha P. Johnson State Park (East River State Park) to witness firsthand the management of the its dog waste composting system. What they saw there was a real opportunity to divert this waste from landfill and create a nutrient-rich compost to be applied back to gardens in a safe and environmentally responsible way, while also minimizing the amount of methane gas released and reducing the number of plastic bags typically used to pick up pet waste. Based on the success of East River State Park’s program, and in keeping with BPCA’s historic sustainability legacy, the Authority announced it was launching a program of its own that September.
After five months of active participation by Battery Park City’s many four-legged friends across the neighborhood’s three dog runs, BPCA filled its first Earth Cube composter with approximately 1.4 cubic yards of waste. The next part of the process entailed multiple tests by an independent lab to ensure the safety of the compost – the first after the compost had cured for at least six months; the second after it cured for an additional six. With two test results indicating the compost is ready for use in publicly-accessible areas, it now was time to deploy the first batch.
This week, our Parks Operations team applied the first fully-tested and cured dog waste compost along one section of the West Street / Route 9A median, on the north side of the pedestrian walkway below the Robert R. Douglass Bridge. The team applied the approximately 1.4 cubic yards of compost to 500 square feet of the median garden bed.
Battery Park City’s dog waste compost program continues with daily collection and processing of waste from our three dog runs. Since the start of the program, nearly 2,500 pounds of dog waste have been processed into compost, with roughly 15 pounds of new waste now collected per day. With full participation at each run, we estimate up to 75 pounds waste can be collected daily!
Want to participate in dog waste composting? Well, it’s quick and easy to do.
