Community Composting

In Mott Haven and Port Morris, We Bear The Burden of Landfilled Food Waste

Right here on our waterfront sits the Harlem River Yards Waste Transfer Station, operated by Waste Management.

Every day, garbage trucks from across New York City rumble through Mott Haven and Port Morris streets, carrying waste from neighborhoods across the city.

Here, the trash is processed and loaded onto diesel freight trains that haul it hundreds of miles away to landfills and incinerators.

About a third of what gets dumped is food waste, a resource that belongs in our soil, not in a landfill.

DSNY trucks and CSX freight trains line up on the Mott Haven—Port Morris waterfront

This harm is compounded by the presence of other polluting industries on our waterfront, like FreshDirect.

Community Composting is Environmental Justice

This placement isn't random.

The South Bronx, historically the poorest congressional district in the country, has been systematically treated as New York City's dumping ground for decades.

We've absorbed decades of disinvestment, industrial pollution, and infrastructure designed for the convenience of the city and the region. We are a sacrifice zone.

The health costs are borne by our children. We breathe the diesel exhaust from trucks and trains. We live with the methane emissions from rotting food waste in distant landfills, contributing to climate change that will devastate our community first and worst.

Community composting plays a small but powerful direct response: we refuse to export our waste, our pollution, or our power anymore.

We're building infrastructure owned, managed, and stewarded by the community.

We Have Been Left Out of Citywide Composting Programs

In recent years, New York City rolled out its "Smart Bin" program to expand compost access across the city. These convenient drop-off stations were supposed to bring composting closer to every New Yorker.

Yet there is not a single Smart Bin in Mott Haven or Port Morris.

Not one.

While other neighborhoods enjoy easy access to citywide compost programs, our community was overlooked. Once again, the South Bronx was left behind.

In 2024, the City rolled out curbside composting throughout New York, including the Bronx.

But without meaningful education, community outreach, or support tailored to our neighborhoods, the rollout has low participation in the South Bronx. Most of us live in large apartment buildings where complex logistics and a lack of community engagement mean low participation rates. .

Mott Haven and Port Morris sit in a “SMART Bin” desert.

Why This Matters: Environmental Justice and Healing the Soil

Community composting is part of a larger vision for environmental justice in the South Bronx. By building local infrastructure, we:

  • Can reduce air pollution from waste trucks and trains

  • Keep nutrients in our community instead of exporting them out of state

  • Build community leadership with environmental solutions

  • Strengthen our green spaces with nutrient-rich compost

  • Create local stewardship of resources that matter to us

  • Demonstrate self-determination. We can build solutions right here, right now.

Compost bins under construction at Brook Park Community Garden

Community Composting Sites in Mott Haven—Port Morris

Maria Sola Green Space | 134th St and Lincoln Avenue

Maria Solá Green Space has been a hub for community greening for years. In 2024, volunteer stewards there began accepting food scrap drop-offs.

In their first year, they processed over 600lbs of food scraps.

In 2025, recognizing the demand, volunteers expanded the operation to include a 24/7 drop-off box, so residents can compost whenever it's convenient for them.

In 2026, thanks to a partnership with The Brotherhood Sister Sol in Harlem, Maria Solá received a second compost bin on-site, expanding capacity even further. This support allows the site to grow and better serve the community.

24/7 drop-off available. Contact info@southbronxunite.nyc for more info.

Brook Park Community Garden | 141st Street & Brook Avenue

Brook Park has long been a site of community composting. However, during major renovations in 2024-2025, the garden needed to pause compost acceptance to focus on rebuilding.

That changed in 2026.

South Bronx Unite received a grant from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) to build new, expanded compost infrastructure at Brook Park.

This 6-bin system reflects the existing and long-standing compost demands at Brook Park that have thrived for years.

Compost Power at Patterson Houses | 139th Street & Morris Avenue

While not a South Bronx Unite project, our friends at Compost Power, located at Patterson Houses, offer another community compost site in Mott Haven.

Contact Compost Power to learn more about this site.