How can we ensure composting is made accessible for all communities? How can composters implement the highest standards possible to prevent rodents in those communities? And what questions do the recent cuts to the NYC Compost Project raise that all composting advocates should be considering?

In this episode of the Composting for Community Podcast, we are joined by Domingo Morales, founder of Compost Power, a New York City composting organization that builds sustainable community compost sites across NYC with an emphasis on underserved and marginalized communities. Out of nine total sites, eight are at public housing, providing all residents with access to waste equity, sustainable education, and job training.

In this episode, you’ll hear Domingo discuss: 

-How he brought community composting sites to public housing residents, and his personal experience that inspired him. 
-Closing the loop as a community composter and the educational impact of composting in food apartheid communities. 
-Eliminating rodents and his “diamond standard” composting management practices that have led to Compost Power being named integrated pest management solutions by the New York Public Housing Authority.
-The rise and fall of the government-funded New York City Compost Project, and the future of composting in New York (which ILSR also wrote about).
-How art and music can be used to promote composting and reach new audiences.

Related Resources:

Three NYC Composting Failures That Reflect Troubling National Trends
https://ilsr.org/articles/nyc-failures-reflect-national-trends/

New York Times Profile: The Unlikely Ascent of New York’s Compost Champion
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/13/climate/domingo-morales-composting-nyc.html

For the full transcript, visit ilsr.org.
https://ilsr.org/articles/building-waste-equity-at-public-housing-in-nyc