Turn Your Christmas Tree Into Compost or Mulch at Locations in Brooklyn

As usual, the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) will hold its annual holiday tree curbside collection and recycling program this year. Starting Monday Jan 4 and continuing through Friday, Jan 15 you can put your tree out by the curb — having removed all its ornaments, and not in a bag — and it will be pick up, chipped and made into compost.

Compost will then be spread over the city’s parks, community gardens and ball fields. Last year, 122,235 trees were collected by DSNY.

“Providing collection and recycling options for residents is environmentally valuable and benefits our neighborhoods,” said Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty. “Compost is a natural fertilizer and is an excellent soil enrichment that promotes the healthy growth of plants and grass.”

With a little extra effort — and maybe the use of a car — trees can also be brought to one of 16 locations throughout the borough (there are more throughout the rest of the city) to participate in the 14th annual MulchFest held by the Parks Department.

On Saturday, Jan 9 and Sunday, Jan 10, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., bring your tree to be mulched at one of the designated parks, which are indicated as either chipping sites or drop-off sites. At chipping sites, you are encouraged to bring plastic bags; you can take home free mulch for your own garden.

“Chipping machines” turn dead trees into mulch, which is used in tree pits and horticultural areas, conserving warmth and soil moisture during wintertime, and preventing weed growth.

There are more than 80 parks participating in this year’s MulchFest. Chipping sites in Brooklyn are Added Value Community Farm at 305 Van Brunt St.; Cobble Hill Park at Verandah Place and Clinton Street; Fort Greene Park at Washington Park and Willoughby Avenue; Hattie Carthan Garde at Lafayette Avenue and Clifton Place; Marine Park at Avenue U and 33rd Street; McCarren Park at Driggs Avenue and Lorimer Street; Owl’s Head Park at Third Street at Prospect Park West; and Prospect Park Circle at Parkside Avenue and PRospect Park Southwest.

Drop-off sites in Brooklyn are Coffey Park at Dwight Street and Verona Street; Green-Wood Cemetery at 25th Street and Fourth Avenue; Lincoln Terrace Park at Buffalo Avenue between East New York Avenue and Eastern Parkway; Maria Hernandez Park between Knickerbocker Avenue and Suydam Street; McGolrick Park at Moniter Street and Driggs Avenue; Prospect Heights Community Garden at 252-256 St. Marks Ave.; and Sunset Park at 44th St and Sixth Avenue.

Click here for more information about curbside collection, and here for more information on MulchFest. To volunteer during either day, visit milliontrees.org.

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Rudolph, Eco-Conscious

Happy holidays.

Courtesy of Cagle Cartoons

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Recycling Outreach in Brooklyn

I’m sure many of you, while dutifully putting your paper recyclables in the green bins, and metal, glass and plastic recyclables in the blue bins, have often wondered: When the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) picks these up, do they really go to a recycling center?

According to David Hurd, director of the Office of Recycling Outreach and Education (OROE) at the Council on the Environment of New York City (CENYC) — which is not a city agency — they do.

“So many New Yorkers want to believe that the Department of Sanitation is actually not recycling the recyclables that they pick up,” he said. “That’s absolutely false.”

In some cases, people are recycling less or not recycling at all. So, through OROE, “What we try to do is basically get people to understand the program,” he explained. “To debunk the classic myth.”

CENYC, which is almost 40 years old, created OROE in 2006. Five outreach coordinators tackle each borough by community district, using a Residential Waste Characterization Study conducted by DSNY to target the districts that have low recycling diversion rates first.

Brooklyn’s recycling outreach coordinator, Jae Watkins, says of her approach, “I try to find active community groups in the districts.” At their meetings she does a presentation with samples, “a collection of things that are both recyclable and not recyclable. I clear up the confusion about the program.”

Much confusion is generated from what DSNY does and does not collect. Plastic bottles are the only type of plastic that can be recycled; yogurt and takeout containers are not recyclable. Milk cartons seem like they should go out with paper and cardboard, but they actually get recycled with plastics and metals. Also, household items that are at least 50 percent metal — pots and pans, irons, toasters and wire hangers — can be recycled.

Watkins mostly speaks to building owners, giving them tips about ways to make recycling easier in their buildings, such as making sure their bins are in places that are well-lit and clean.

Of the neighborhoods Watkins has tackled so far, she said, “I started out in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint area a couple of years ago and then I moved to Bed-Stuy, and then Bushwick, and now I’m working in the CB 2 area, Fort Greene.”

Once she’s established herself in a community district, Watkins says she remains a resource for recycling questions and requests. She gets calls every once in a while from building owners who are looking for more ways to educate their tenants, such as getting signs in languages other than English.

“A lot of people, they have all these questions but they don’t know who to ask,” Watkins said.

Though she has covered a lot of ground in her three years at CENYC, Watkins still has a ways to go. “It takes six months to really get in good in a community district, and there are 18,” she said.

“What I think makes us effective is that staff really does try to completely absorb the neighborhood,” Hurd said. “Not only do we use data from the Department of Sanitation study, but we also use demographic data from the Department of City Planning to identify larger target population groups.”

OROE also identifies the other opportunities that exist in neighborhoods, such as composting, appliance repair shops, or shoe repair shops, Hurd explained, to make objects last longer rather than be thrown out.

“We’re trying to get people to remember that whole concept, that garbage is a choice that we make,” he continued. “There are a lot of things that are perfectly good but we decide that they are no longer good for us. We try to talk about changing that mentality where we can.”

For more information about recycling, visit www.cenyc.org.

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The Actifist: Connecting New Yorkers to Copenhagen

Documenting Chris Neidl's third day at the climate conference is a clip about the "actifist," an interactive installation designed by Adam Harvey that connects New York to Copenhagen. When New Yorkers slam their fists down onto a podium here in support of a science-based climate change treaty, an artificial fist slams down on the other end. Check it out in action:

See Brooklyn's Parks at Museum of the City of NY

In October photographer Joel Meyerowitz released Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parks, a collection of photographs documenting the almost 9,000 acres of parks in the five boroughs of the city.

Commissioned by the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, the book features 250 photos of green spaces from Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx (the largest park in the city at over 2,700 acres), to Riverside Park in Manhattan, to High Rock Park in Staten Island.

Naturally, there are a large number of photographs taken in Brooklyn, most from Prospect Park. Eagle editor Raanan Geberer spoke with Meyerowitz last month, you can read his story here. Last week, I took a tour of the accompanying exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, given by the photographer himself.

Split into three rooms, works in the first two rooms are printed on large sheets of recyclable Tyvek paper. Meyerowitz explained that he also used biodegradable ink for the prints, “a green process for a show about the environment.”

Upon walking into the exhibit, you are literally in the Bronx River, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling photos and a photo on the floor, “so you can walk on water,” Meyerowitz said. Going to the next room, you proceed “from river into woodlands” he explained, where there are more Tyvek prints, this time of various trees and woods throughout the city.

The final stage of the exhibit is a larger room with dozens of photographs separated by Borough. Brooklyn is represented by Prospect Park, Fort Greene Park, Marine Park, Louis Valentino Jr. Park, Owl’s Head Park and Sunset Park.

I thought the exhibit was amazing, particularly Bronx River room — it was as if we actually were in the river. I was blown away by these photographs, because when I think of New York City, I don’t really think of wilderness. So many of the pieces have no urban elements, if I didn’t know they were taken in the city, I would never guess.

Meyerowitz gives a fresh and much-needed look at the green spaces around us, and I think (I hope) as people see his photos, they have a new appreciation and respect for what’s in them.

The Legacy photography exhibit will continue through March 21. For more information, visit www.mcny.org/exhibitions/current/Legacy.html.

All photos of Prospect Park. Top photo: Long Meadow, autumn. Middle photo: Wellhouse Drive, spring. Bottom photo: woods in the Ravine, autumn.

Copyright Joel Meyerowitz, Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, NY

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Scientist James Hansen Speaks at Secret Science Club in Brooklyn

Director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and adjunct professor at Columbia University's Department of Earth and Environmental Science, James Hansen, visited the Secret Science Club at the Bell House on Tuesday evening to speak about the climate crisis.

He doubted that the climate conference in Copenhagen will change much, while warning that environmental troubles are nearing a "tipping point" of no return unless action is taken while there is still hope. Though "CO2 has already passed its limits into the dangerous zone," Hansen said, "we can still reverse it."

His solutions are to "phase out coal, prohibit carbon fuel, improve forest practices and re-forest lands, and institute no-till agriculture."

Eagle reporter Harold Egeln went to the meeting. You can read his full story here.

Party and Benefit for Bushwick Farmers' Market

This Sunday, Dec 20, a party and benefit for the Bushwick Farmers’ Market, the “Winter Solstice Feast,” will be held at 130 Palmetto St. in Bushwick from 6 p.m. to midnight.

An annual tradition hosted by of some of the market’s organizers, this year the hosts have asked attendees who are able to make donations in support of the Farmer’s Market, which is just finishing its first year but lacks necessary funding for 2010. There will be opportunities for giving during the event and there is no cover charge.

There will be live entertainment, a silent auction and food. The event is BYOB/N — bring your own bottle and napkin — to make the event as low-impact as possible.

For more information or to volunteer, visit www.bushwickfarmersmarket.org/solstice/.

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