New York, NY Trash & Recycling: Mandatory Organics Recycling (2026)

1(a) directs the Department of Sanitation to establish a mandatory citywide curbside organics collection program for the diversion of organic waste, with a two-phase rollout: residential properties in at least 30 sanitation districts by October 2, 2023, and every remaining district by October 7, 2024, meaning the mandate is now citywide. 1(b) required the Department to file a public implementation plan describing outreach and how it would distribute rodent-proof organics bins to building owners at no cost. 1(f) lets the Commissioner designate organic waste as a recyclable material under § 16-305, meaning the same curbside placement and building-management rules that apply to metal, glass and paper recycling, including the building-size duties in § 16-305(e)-(g), extend to organics too.

1(g) sets the penalty: a residential building owner who violates the organics mandate is liable for the civil penalty in § 16-324, but the Department could only issue a written warning, not a fine, for any violation before April 1, 2025, so real civil penalties began that date. The section separately preserves the Department's yard-waste enforcement authority under § 16-308, so an organics violation and a yard-waste violation are enforced independently. 1(d) requires the Department to publicly report, by weight and by sanitation district, how much organic waste it diverts under the program each year as part of its annual zero waste report.