A building super on a quiet block in Fort Greene found a $25 summons taped to his trash cage one January morning, proof that New York's composting mandate had teeth again after a nine month pause. Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration had quietly restarted enforcement, and sanitation officers were working block by block across the five boroughs. For apartment dwellers, brown bins, labeled containers, and separated food scraps are back on the compliance checklist, with real costs for landlords who ignore them.
The composting mandate returns after a quiet pause
The city first suspended penalties for smaller buildings in April 2025. New York City suspended the issuance of composting fines for smaller residential buildings until 2026, city officials confirmed, just two weeks after enforcement began under the city's new mandatory composting law. That pause did not last.
Fines for failing to participate in the city's mandatory curbside organics recycling program were paused by then-Mayor Eric Adams. Now Mayor Zohran Mamdani has quietly resumed the fines, hoping they will encourage building owners, including co-op and condo boards, to place their organic waste in brown bins so it can be recycled instead of sent to landfills, where it produces methane, a greenhouse gas. According to the Department of Sanitation, the city has "begun issuing summonses to buildings of all types," press secretary Vincent Gragnani said.
Who must comply, and how to avoid a fine
The rules differ by building size, and the paperwork falls on owners, not tenants directly. Curbside composting service became mandatory for condominiums, cooperatives, and multifamily rental buildings starting October 6, 2024. The requirements were established under Local Law 85 of 2023 and are enforced through DSNY's waste separation regulations, which give the city authority to mandate source-separated organics collection and issue violations for noncompliance.
Smaller properties face a gentler ladder than larger ones. Buildings with 1 to 8 units face $25 for the first offense, $50 for the second offense, and $100 for the third and subsequent offenses, while buildings with 9 or more units face $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second offense, and $300 for the third and subsequent offenses. For apartment towers, buildings with four or more units are required to have a designated area for composting, and the property owner is responsible for the fine.
Sorting itself is simple once you know the list. Acceptable material includes all leaf and yard waste, including flowers and Christmas trees, all food scraps including meat, bones, shells, and dairy, prepared and cooked foods, greasy uncoated paper plates and pizza boxes, and products certified or labeled compostable. Wrappers, pet waste, medical waste, diapers, foam, and personal hygiene products do not belong in the bin, and neither do metal, glass, plastic, cartons, clean paper, or cardboard. Bins have a clear size limit: composting must be set out in a labeled bin with a secure lid, 55 gallons or less. Timing matters too, since waste goes out after 6:00 PM in bins 55 gallons or less with secure lids, or after 8:00 PM if putting bags directly on the curb.
What the numbers show so far
Enforcement has moved in bursts rather than a steady climb. When fines first began in spring 2025, enforcement began on April 1, 2025, and in just one week, the city issued nearly 2,000 fines for noncompliance. Within that same stretch, DSNY issued 4,259 violations for noncompliance with mandatory organics rules in April 2025, according to DSNY collections data.
Compliance also grew alongside the penalties. Officials said DSNY collected 3.8 million pounds of organic waste in one week, the most since the program began. If you are apartment hunting right now and want a building that already runs bins and setout times smoothly, it is worth browsing current listings in the apartments and rentals guide before you sign anything, since a super's compost habits often say a lot about how the rest of the building is managed.
What comes next for the composting mandate
Not everyone agrees the city has gotten the rollout right. Councilmember Shahana Hanif, the law's primary sponsor, argues fines alone will not fix the problem. She said the administration cut support for community composting groups, limited bin distribution, and delayed outreach efforts that could have prevented confusion. One advocate framed the stakes bluntly: "There's a lot more than just writing tickets that needs to be done to make this program solid and work in the long run."
The bigger question is where the program goes from here. Composting advocates will be watching to see how fines for the city's composting program will ultimately be structured under Mamdani, and whether his administration restricts the program to producing fertilizer or continues to use compost to heat homes.
