Big Reuse
🌱 Environmental Nonprofit & Mega Reuse Center / Thrift Store
♻️ Compost • Outreach • Street Tree Care • Green Jobs
⏰ Open Every Day 10am-6pm (1 12th St. Brooklyn)
Find us at bigreuse.org and instagram.com/bigreuse
linktr.ee/bigreuse
- Made a big composter pile at El Garden in Bushwick this past Friday just before the weekend’s big freeze. Jenny & Annie, El Garden’s community compost leads & Master Composters, showed us how they’re using their new extra large aluminum community compost cubes!
- With the cubes, El Garden’s operation is scaling up! If you live close by, spread the word and lookout for upcoming workdays. This Spring, Big Reuse will be co-hosting community composting volunteer days at El Garden, every 3rd Friday 10AM-12PM.
- Thanks to Council Member Jen Gutierrez for representing Bushwick and voting to fund community composting, and thanks to New York City Council for supporting community composting for FY26!
- With inclement frigid weather and L train service changes this Saturday, January 24, we are postponing the opening party of our new Bushwick Reuse Center to Saturday, February 28, 6PM-8PM. Stay tuned for a new invitation and updated RSVP link. Thanks for understanding and stay warm this weekend!
- New year, new compost site! Our amazing team has set up a Food Scrap Drop-Off site at The Salt Lot in Gowanus. Green bins will be available at 22 2nd Avenue Monday-Friday, 10AM-4PM. (These hours are subject to change—if the bins aren't out, we ask that you don't leave your scraps on the sidewalk!)
- Use this site to compost your: 🍌🥕 Fruit & Vegetable Scraps 🍂🌱 Yard & Plant Waste ☕📜 Coffee grounds, Tea leaves, & Brown Paper
- Thank you to everyone who contributed to our End-of-Year Fundraising Campaign! We raised a total of $48,883.88, which will be used to reach more NYC neighborhoods with environmental education, community composting, tree care, and reuse in 2026.
- While the future of state and federal funding for environmental programs remains uncertain, we're grateful to our community for seeing the value in community-based land-stewardship and environmental education. Stay tuned for upcoming projects, and support Big Reuse at bigreuse.org/donate.
- We hate to see beautiful Christmas trees kicked to the curb! Luckily, you can make sure your evergreens give evergreen care back to our soil by bringing your tree to Mulchfest through January 11! Find a Mulchfest location near you on the NYC Parks website. www.nycgovparks.org/highlights/f...
- Can’t make it to Mulchfest? Christmas trees can also be placed on the curb on your regular composting collection day 🎄✨
- Our 2025 map of community work shows every tree care event, volunteer compost site, food scrap drop-off site, bin installation, curbside compost outreach event, and tree guard installation across the city! Help Big Reuse make a big local impact in the new year—donate today at bigreuse.org/donate.
- This Giving Tuesday, you can give TWICE as Big for New York City! Thanks to the generosity of our Board of Trustees, all contributions made from today until December 8 will be matched up to $5,000. Donate today at bigreuse.org/donate.
- Planning to compost your post-holiday meal scraps in NYC? Our NYSDERA Fellow Tatiana Guerra put together a guide on where and what to compost the leftovers from your table! 🍗🥗🥕🧄 Read more: bigreuse.org/blogs/news/f...
- Give BIG for NYC by supporting our End-of-Year Fundraising Campaign! Support Big Reuse to continue to bring composting, tree care, reuse, education, outreach, and community to our amazing city. Donate today at bigreuse.org/donate.
- We need your help to provide the support and resources that New Yorkers deserve. With federal, state, and city funding uncertainties, Big Reuse relies on support from people like you who understand the value in local environmental and community-based work. Donate today: bigreuse.org/donate.
- Thank you to @brooklyncollege.bsky.social's BC Brief for covering our recent projects with students! Learn more about a recently installed composting system & our tree guard collaboration w/ the Office of Environmental Health, Safety, and Sustainability & TREEage 🌳 www.brooklyn.edu/bc-brief/bro...
- ✨ Congratulations to NYC's Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani on a historic win! As Assembly Member for District 36, Mamdani supported our 2024 partnership with Rise Light & Power to plant street trees and transform the tree pits in Queens, helping offset pollution from power plants & improving air quality.
- “For far too long, Astoria has been labeled Asthma Alley and held the distinction of having the worst air quality in all of Queens. ...this partnership offers us a glimpse of a future built around renewable energy generation,” said Mamdani. Looking forward this next chapter for our city! 🌳 🍎
- 📣 We're excited to announce Big Reuse will be opening a new Reuse Center (thrift store) in Bushwick, near the Jefferson L train station! We still have a bunch of work to do but aim to be open by December. Stay tuned!
- Visit our table in front of our new location at the last weekend of Troutman Open Streets this Sunday, October 26! Staff will be collecting used clothing, selling secondhand Halloween costumes, and providing curbside composting resources.
- SAT, OCT 25: Help Big Reuse & JH SCRAPS make green spaces in Jackson Heights more resilient! Volunteers will sift, turn, & break down food scraps. Your hard work ultimately results in finished compost that goes back into public spaces in the neighborhood ✨ www.eventbrite.com/e/compost-vo...
- Reposted by Big ReuseAlso please join us Sun, Oct 19th at 10am for our next street tree care event! Learn about and care for Bushwick street trees. *Meet at 121 Starr Street. *All supplies provided *Registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/street-tre... Thanks to our partners! @cmjengutierrez.bsky.social @bigreuse.bsky.social
- Learn more about composting and how to participate in the Department of Sanitation’s mandatory curbside composting program. Receive a free 1-gallon kitchen container and bin decal while supplies last from Big Reuse! We can’t wait to meet you and talk curbside composting with you.
- Join the Save our Compost Press Rally on Tuesday 3/25 at 10:30am on NY City Hall steps. This will coincide with DSNY’s testimony and lead up to public testimony, which begins at 11 am. Thank you for your support, we hope to see you there!
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- In collaboration with @nybg.bsky.social Bronx Green Up, we now have six food scrap drop offs in the Bronx open* for collection! #communitycompost *Karol's Community Farm is opening on 2/21
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- Reposted by Big ReuseJoin us and our friends from @bigreuse.bsky.social for these upcoming programs at the Library and learn what's happening with #Composting in NYC! www.queenslibrary.org/search/calen...
- We are lucky that coalitions like the Public Environmental Data Project exist and acted quickly to restore the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), a digital mapping tool used to identify environmentally disadvantaged communities (DACs), crucial to environmental justice work.
- Here (edgi-govdata-archiving.github.io/j40-cejst-2/...) you can find the unofficial copy of the CEJST Tool, as restored by the data scientists at Public Environmental Data Project. We are grateful to be able to use this tool as we continue street tree care, planting, and compost work in NYC DACs.
- The Public Environmental Data Project is committed to preserving and providing public access to federal environmental data, understanding that we rely on federal datasets and tools to support critical research, advocacy, and policy work. Here are some recovered pages/tools: screening-tools.com
- Nando Rodriguez from Brotherhood Sister Sol @brosis512.bsky.social is leading a campaign to bring 1,000 composting sites to every borough. Here’s why he’s doing it.
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- We love rehoming treasures like this, keeping it out of the landfill to be loved by someone new! Thank you for sharing 💚
- "Spearheaded by NYC Council Member Lincoln Restler and nonprofit Big Reuse, the initiative offers residents a low-cost tree guard option for just $275, significantly less than traditional designs." -@urbanizenyc.bsky.social Learn more: bigreuse.org/treeguards
- Big Reuse founder and executive director Justin Green was interviewed for this article on mandatory curbside composting in NYC. “A lot of environmental change starts to happen at the community level,” Green said. “It’s a huge lift to change the behavior of millions of people." Read the story here:
- "Large fossil fuel companies would have to pay fees to help New York fight the effects of climate change under a bill signed Thursday by Gov. Kathy Hochul."
- "The Business Council of New York State and over 30 business groups earlier this month called on Hochul to veto the bill, arguing that it 'targets sellers of fossil fuels while ignoring users as a contributor to emissions.'"
- Drop off your holiday tree at NYC Parks for Mulchfest between now and January 12. Find a Mulchfest location near you!
- "Governor Kathy Hochul signed Senate Bill S5331, which expands the original NYS Food Donation and Food Scraps Recovery Law... "The new amendments to the law lower the threshold of food waste generators that must comply to an annual average of 1 ton/week starting January 1, 2026."
- Funded by Council Member @lincolnrestler.bsky.social, we have created a more affordable tree guard for New York City residents! A healthy urban tree canopy is a locally impactful action we can take to mitigate climate change—and tree guards keep our street trees safe.
- Currently available in 13 districts across Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx — check and see if your block qualifies for an affordable tree guard. Learn more about this initiative, in partnership with @lincolnrestler.bsky.social & NYC Council District 33 here:
- ICYMI #HakiCompost is back collecting food scraps on Roosevelt Island, Saturday mornings at Motorgate Plaza. They're hosting a volunteer orientation 12/14 from 11 to 11:30am for those interested in getting involved!
- More coverage of our street tree planting with Rise Light & Power 🌱 Thanks again to @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social for supporting this initiative in Astoria, Queens!
- Read about our new tree planting initiative in Astoria, Queens — funded by and in partnership with Rise Light & Power. Thanks for the support and for planting bulbs with us @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social!
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