Brooklyn Navy Yard Compost Program Pilot Project

2013 Annual Report for CNE13-104

Project Type: Sustainable Community Innovation
Funds awarded in 2013: $14,901.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2014
Grant Recipient: Brooklyn Grange
Region: Northeast
State: New York
Project Leader:
Benjamin Flanner
Brooklyn Grange

Brooklyn Navy Yard Compost Program Pilot Project

Summary

This report is the end of the year (2013) Annual Summary of the Brooklyn Grange Compost Project – awarded by a SARE grant in 2013.  The project is a pilot of a closed loop composting program inside of the New York City’s largest Industrial Park – the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  The project and grant will be completed in spring of 2014.  The Navy Yard is home to over 200 businesses, it has some extra space, and it has been a perfect location to launch such a pilot project.  Space for composting was acquired in the back of a tennant’s leased lot – called the King’s County Distillery.  The distillery is a small business with eithics and environmental vision similar to our farm, which made it a good partner.  The space worked well because the distillery produces a significant amount of spent grains from its distilling work, and has also been in the process of building up the soil in its property for testing vegetable, corn, and other grain growth during summers.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Composting was done using an aerobic process – which is a very manual system which requires turning the compost to expose microorganisms in the center of the piles to air and oxygen at regular time intervals.

Our completed objectives have been to launch the program, compost as much product as possible in the Navy Yard, thus by diverting organics from the waste stream, develop positive social momentum and awareness for composting. We launched the operation in the spring of 2013.

David Buckel, one of the most experienced community composting experts in the city, agreed to work for us for the beginning period – for the first three months of the grant to the launch the program, establish the basic layout of the composting operation, establish basic systems, create signage, and begin establishing relationships with companies which produce compostable materials across the Navy Yard. During those three months from April to June, the project was launched very efficiently. Two other employees have worked on the pile since June, and have continued to build on the the system which was started in the spring.

Objectives / Goals:
– The exact location of the compost project was negotiated and solidified

– Friendly, informative signage was printed and setup at the compost site – including labels such as “feeder row”, “active compost pile”, and “curing pile”. The physical setup of the operation has been important, in dealing with flow issues, keep space free to large loads of wood chips, etc.

– Feeder pile system was setup for drop-offs which occur when our personnel are not on site.

– Relationships were developed with largest vendors – Agger Fish, King’s County Distillery, Florishop, Brooklyn Roasting Company.

– 64 gallon toters were chosen, purchased, and distributed to businesses.

– Other tools and materials were identified, priced, sourced, and purchased: hose, shovels, wide pitch forks, tarps, large wheel barrows, 3-ft thermometer, wheeled tote bins

– Three valuable items were sourced from the community, which did not have to paid for: bicycle powered compost sifter (see photo), a scale, and a cargo bicycle.

– A significant amount of woodchips was sourced on multiple occasions from a neighboring tree service, which has provided ongoing drop-offs through the project.

– We setup an incoming stream of about 6-8k lbs per month.

Accomplishments/Milestones

The sources of materials evolved over the course of the summer.  We quickly realized that the smaller businesses and dropoff locations were not going to add up to a very significant quantity of nitrogen material, so we focused on the larger businesses – which are the main businesses mentioned above.  We setup the system and layout in the spring, and quickly received about 80 cubic yards of wood chip for a local tree service.  This dropoff was mutually beneficial for both parties, as we were able to stock up considerably on our carbon based materials, or “browns”, and the tree service was able to avoid many miles of transportation, fuel, tolls, and “tipping fees”.  A few weeks later, a large load of farmer’s market scraps from neighboring markets was delivered on June 1st, which totaled 6,748lbs of mostly green material (a messy mix of vegetables scraps, peel, rinds, coffee grounds, etc).  This served to kickstart the piles, and start getting them hot and biologically active.

The grains from the distillery ended up comprising a lesser portion of our total greens materials than predicted, as their volumes were not as anticapted.  The production from Ted and Honey was also significantly lower than expected.  However a new relationship occurred with Brooklyn Roasting Company, which warehouses coffee in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and operates a roaster just outside of the yard.  In July, we approached the owners of the Brooklyn Roasting Company, who agreed, and began dropping off daily loads of ~100lbs of coffee grounds, and chaff from the roasting process.  This provided a significant amount of nitrogen, or “greens” for the piles, (even though the grounds are brown, they are still high in nitrogen) which was mixed in with the food and floral scraps collected from other businesses.  We also began testing the decomposition of fish scraps from Agger.  The fish is heavy, can have bad smells, etc, but is very rich in nutrient, and worked well in the piles once buried sufficiently and introduced into a healthy, active, pile.

The majority of the “harvest” of finished/sifted compost has been stored in a curing pile, because it was not yet ready in substantial portions at the beginning of the farming season, when the farm typically is most in need to compost amendments.  We did, however, harvest several yards and sift with the bicycle powered sifter.  We plan to sift/transport a large amount of the finished product this spring, once the farm is up and running – thus saving considerably on our costs of amendments.  We have increased our intake of volume as well, as the farm season has slowed, and look forward to tracking it’s decomposition rate through the colder months.  We do not foresee generating more than can be used by the farm and King’s County Distillery before the completion of the grant in spring of 2014, however as mentioned, we hope to continue the project, and continue to grow in scale well into the future.

Other streams of compost product were also discovered and found from other sources.  A summary is as follows:

  • Mast Brothers Chocolate Company – chocolate husk from chocolate making process
  • Brooklyn Roasting Company – Spent coffee grounds and chaff from the roasting process
  • Blue Bottle Coffee – chaff from roasting process
  • Florishop – A florist which provides us with compostable materials from flower and plant scraps.
  • Ted and Honey – A café with catering kitchen in the Navy Yard.
  • Brooklyn Grange (Mushroom Substrate / Hay)
  • Straw from Red Hook Crit Road Bicycle Race
  • Tenants from Building  (Food scraps)
  • Various Wood shops in the Navy Yard – contributed wood shavings (coarse sawdust), however some policing and awareness issues arose because the farm only should be using pure wood – not any plywood, treated, painted, or glued.
  • GrowNYC – Farmer’s market collection program
  • Global Enviro – A local onsite food waste solutions business which starts the decomposition process onsite, and then provides us with nutrient rich materials from nearby restaurants.
  • Leaf Collections in fall
  • Wood chip deliveries from local tree service
  • Horse Manure – generated at stables in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and easily hauled to the compost pile, especially when some extra nitrogen and heat is needed in the piles.

After we started receiving a heavy amount of the coffee grounds, we had to undergo some research and learn a bit about how to best handle the materials.  Some research was done, and we sent emails around the community and as far as the West Coast to a composting expert/consultant who we’ve worked with in the past.  We quickly learned that despite our assumption that coffee grounds are “wet” and would give the pile a high moisture content, they actually dry out very quickly, and also lose moisture in the process of being blended with wood chip, wood shavings, and other products in the pile.  They are very porous and fluffy, which contributes to their drying out rapidly.  

It is important for our piles to steadily hit high temperatures – we aim for at least 140-160 to ensure that all weed seeds are broken down before being taken to the farm.  Those temperatures are also optimal for ensuring a high amount of biological activity, and thus a very healthy finished product.  Soon after incorporating the coffee grounds, we commonly experienced conditions where the piles were only at around 120, which was not as high as desired.  But after being watered heavily, they typically rose to over 150 degrees F.  We were also assuming that the coffee grounds were fairly acidic, however also quickly learned from research that most of the acidity is pulled out into the coffee, and that the grounds are actually basic.  There is a huge amount of trashed coffee grounds in New York City each day, and we would be excited to be involved in some sort of scale-up of composting the spent product.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

The compost project has generated a considerable amount of energy and awareness in several different directions. Possibly the most important aspect is that it has demonstrated to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation that Composting can be done in a clean, efficient way which is not detrimental to relationships with businesses, neighbors, tennants, etc. As we began the proposal, and began pursuing the idea, we encountered some political headwinds, due to the logical fact that a large city run organization did not want any odors, smells, backlash from other tenants, etc. We’ve now demonstrated that such a project can be run successfully, and management has begun meetings with discussions of other ways to continue composting, in addition to our project and the duration of the grant. We recently attended a meeting with a pitch for an in-vessel gasification system, and many other ideas are on the table to continue to improve the environmental viability of the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

We also created social bonds and energy from the contributing partners. Businesses which contributed were enthusiastic about the idea of a community based compost system, and similarly, it has been a positive experience exposing other employees and members of the community to the system. We’ve hosted group volunteer days where we turned the compost piles and incorporated large loads. These volunteers have the ability to learn important lessons on nature’s systems. And the Brooklyn Grange has also integrated further into the community, as we’ve borrowed the bicycle powered sifter, accepted farmer’s market loads, and joined compost forums and discussions. We plan to continue to bring as much product as possible into the pile in the next three months, generate positive opinions of composting across the community, educate, and to continue our composting operation after the grant period.

Collaborators:

Ben Flanner

ben@brooklyngrangefarm.com
Head Farmer
Brooklyn Grange
3718 Northern Blvd
Roof
Long Island City, NY 11101
Office Phone: 6082150218