The compost bins will provide soil for the garden while engaging residents in discussions on waste reduction as part of the garden's community activities.
Leader
Emily Westlake
Location
890 Flatbush Avenue at Church Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11226
Impact areas
We will collect leaves from the community through Project Leaf Drop and food scraps from our gardeners/volunteers to create clean, nutrient-rich soil for our garden. In addition, we will be converting organic food and yard waste that would otherwise be sent to the landfill into valuable fertilizer for our garden. We are planning to create at 3-bin compost system for the Church Avenue Communal Garden to properly manage the green and brown waste collected for our compost.
First, we will identify and purchase all the necessary tools for creating the 3-bin compost system, using a How-To Guide from the NYC Compost Project. We will organize an event to build the bins at the garden site, inviting all Sustainable Flatbush members and local residents. In addition, we will host two Project Leaf Drop days to collect fallen leaves throughout Flatbush, and we have designated Emily Westlake to manage the compost pile and collect food waste from garden volunteers.
Soil tests conducted at the garden site revealed high concentrations of lead, arsenic and heavy metals, making this an unsuitable environment for children to play and for healthy plants to grow (especially edible crops). This project will address the issues of natural methods of soil remediation, and serve as a method of waste reduction that provides free, nutrient rich soil to our gardeners.
