April 22, 2025
By Mark Hellermann for the Compost Committee
The Coop generates upwards of 23 tons of food scraps each year. About a third of this gets composted at nine local sites in Brooklyn by members who are part of the PSFC Compost Squad. One of these community sites is just down the street at Union and 4th Ave—GreenSpace on 4th (GS4). A few weeks ago the Coop started offering this compost for sale. The sifted compost from GS4 is sold in repurposed paper coffee filter bags from a coffee shop in Windsor Terrace. All of the bags have unique brown stains (not unlike the packaging on the legendary Powdermilk Biscuits).
Compost inside the bag is made from fruit and vegetable scraps collected at the Coop and from CHIPS soup kitchen. Sources of carbon (aka “browns”) are wood chips from Greenwood Cemetery, wood shavings from a few Gowanus carpenters, leaves, coffee grounds and small amounts of cocoa chaff. No animal products are used in the making of this product. Except for the delivery of browns every few weeks, these materials arrive at GS4 via people-powered U-Boats. Most production does not rely on burning fossil fuels. You could say this is an ultra-local product that completes a full circle between Coop food scraps and Coop member gardens. (Someone actually did say that.)
Staff at the Coop (especially Cecelia Rembert and Joe Gordon) have been very supportive about getting this compost on the shelves so it can find its way into your flower and vegetable beds.
Food scraps not composted at community gardens get picked up by a commercial hauler known as Mr. T, which processes it into bioenergy in New Jersey. Coop members are making a concerted effort to increase local composting and to minimize the amount of food scraps being carted out of state and made into biogas and biosolids.
If you are interested in helping us process more of this nutrient-rich black gold, consider joining the Compost Squad. There are several openings and they are posted on the bulletin board by the elevator and also listed in “Join the Compost Committee” in this edition of the Linewaiters’ Gazette. Or you can contact psfccompost@gmail.com.
For more information on GS4 Compost, visit greenspaceon4th.org.