Top: Big Reuse’s Queens food scraps and yard trimmings composting site under the Queensboro Bridge. Photo courtesy Big Reuse

On April 19, Big Reuse held a press conference with members of the New York City (NYC) Council at its Queensbridge food scraps composting site to speak out against NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue’s decision to evict the operation from its location under the Queensboro Bridge in the Borough of Queens. The Parks Department is making improvements to the adjacent Baby Queensbridge Park and claims it needs to evict the composting operation in order to relocate a maintenance yard on the property. “Parks does not need our site to construct the planned park,” states Justin Green, Big Reuse’s executive director. “Parks controls multiple blocks of parking and operations under Queensboro Bridge. For example, there is an underutilized 22,000 sq. ft. Parks parking lot down the street that should house the equipment being moved from the sector maintenance yard instead of evicting Big Reuse’s composting site. Allowing our existing operation to remain next to a new park would create additional opportunities for community engagement, learning, and sustainable practices.” To support Big Reuse’s campaign to remain at its Queensbridge site, a letter writing campaign was recently launched. Over 2,700 letters have been submitted to Commissioner Donoghue and Mayor Adams.