Battery Park City Authority expands dog waste composting program
NEW YORK -- When you hear the term "composting," food scraps likely come to mind, but one program is accepting another kind of waste.
The hope is more dog owners will stoop down to pick up what their dogs put down in Battery Park City.
Chip seems like the perfect pup -- he plays catch and cuddles...
"He does poop?" CBS2's Vanessa Murdock asked.
"A lot," owner Emily Snouffer said.
Good thing he and his owner play at the North End Avenue Dog Run in Battery Park City because there, you can compost the deed. Slide it onto the pan, drop it into the bin – no bag needed.
Dog walker Rob McDonald cleans up after 10 dogs a day and will compost if it's not too messy.
"Why do you take the opportunity, when it's not too messy, to compost?" 's Murdock asked.
"Saves me a bag, saves me five cents every poo," McDonald said.
Understood, but the reason compost containers exist in the park goes beyond saving cents.
If disposed of in a plastic bag, the poop produces methane – a greenhouse gas that feeds global warming. If left to rot, when it rains, it runs off into our rivers.
Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) launched the program in 2019.
Ryan Torres, BPCA vice president of park operations, shares the goals: Get it out of landfills and off the streets.
"To date, we've collected over 5,700 pounds of dog waste," she said.
BPCA composted it separate from food and garden scraps, then tested it for safety and spread it around the highway median.
BPCA says soon it will have the ability to pick up even more poop put down by your pups. Not only did BPCA recently set up more compost bins around the neighborhood, Torres says, "We are amping up our game. We are getting a bigger composter."
It's more efficient, too, and set to arrive in spring.
BPCA hopes more ditch bags and start composting. Dog mom Magdalena Kusio echoes that and adds, "I wish it would expand so it would be on every second corner, at least."
So she can show almost as much love for our environment as she shows her fur-ever friend.
Battery Park City Authority says they hope to compost as much as 200 pounds per day and adds "as the program become increasingly adopted and successful," it will "assess where the needs are and expand drop-off locations."