Monday, November 15, 2010

Project LeafDrop Collects Leaves From NYC Residents for Composting

Two years ago, due to budget cuts, New York City stopped collecting leaves separate from garbage. In response, a Park Slope community garden called 6/15 Green decided to expand its already large composting center to accept leaves from non-members, in order to divert those leaves from the landfills. That year the garden collected one-and-a-half tons of leaves.


Last year 6/15 Green teamed up with 23 other community gardens, botanical gardens, greening groups, environmental organizations, City agencies and community partners to form NYCLeaves, and together they created Project LeafDrop, a mission to reduce organic material in the city’s wastestream. Over eight tons of leaves were brought to Project LeafDrop sites and turned into compost and mulch for garden beds and street trees.

This year Project LeafDrop is back, with participating sites across the city. In Brooklyn, sites stretch from Williamsburg to Kensington/Ditmas Park, Sunset Park to East New York. Neighborhood residents are welcome to bring their leaves in clear plastic bags without twigs or trash to participating locations on specific dates. To find information on times and locations, view an interactive map here

Pictured above is a 2008 photo of the three-bin compost system at 6/15 Green Community Garden in Park Slope.

Benefit for Green Theatre Collective Tomorrow

Tomorrow night the Green Theatre Collective (GCT), a Brooklyn-based theater group that uses minimal resources to perform in natural environments, will hold a benefit for its inaugural season. The benefit will be at Pianos NYC at 158 Ludlow St. in the Lower East Side of Manhattan from 7 to 10 p.m.

Attendees will hear live music from Reuben Chess of the band Quintus, Acoustic Electra and Sara Banleigh, and sample baked goods from Monicakes Bakery. The show will start at 8 p.m.

Suggested donation is $10, which will go to GCT’s production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, slated for summer 2011. For more information, visit www.greentheatrecollective.org

The Green Theatre Collective is founded by Windsor Terrace resident Hal Fickett. Read my story about it here.