About Us

2024

Waste 360 · Jan. 2

“NYC Composting Organizations Receive Funding to Continue Services Through Spring 2024”

Bloomberg · Feb. 1

Don’t Kill Community Composting in New York City

The Village Sun · Feb. 9

BNN Breaking· Feb. 11

NYC’s Community Composting Jobs Face Extinction: A Battle for Sustainability

2023

QNS · Mar. 29
Flushing councilwoman to host e-waste recycling event at Queens Botanical Garden

The New York Times · Apr. 19
“How New Yorkers’ Food Scraps get ‘Digested’ to Heat Homes”

76 West: A Podcast from the Marlene Meyerson JCC · Apr. 19
“Electronic waste + Composting with Christine Datz-Romero, LES Ecology Center”

WNYC: Brian Lehrer Show · Apr. 19
“This or That: Which is Ecologically Better?”

The City · June 30
“How to Compost Yard Waste Curbside in New York”

EV Grieve · July 2
“On 7th Street, the Clyde Romero Memorial Garden celebrates a longtime garden activist”

Gothamist · Aug. 15
“NYC plan to allow plastic bags for yard compost raises environmentalists’ eyebrows”

Hunter College Food Policy Center · Sept. 5
“Lower East Side Ecology Center Nurtures Sustainability in Urban Communities”

CitizenSide Nov.20

“How To Dispose Of Electronics In NYC”

Waste Dive· Nov.22

“Proposed NYC budget cuts ‘devastating’ for community composters”

The City Nov. 28

“Less Compost, More Methane Gas and Landfill Loom in Proposed Budget Cuts”

Green Matters Nov.29

“Proposed NYC Budget Cuts Community Compost, Makes More Room for Methane Gas”

W42ST Dec. 16

“Councilmember Bottcher Secures Funding to Save Hell’s Kitchen Composting Site from Budget Cuts”

 

2022

PIX11 · Jun. 14
“Lower East Side Community Garden Feeding Those in Need”

NY1 · Jul. 11
New Yorker of the Week: Herbert Jue

NY1 · Jul. 12
Compost site displaced by East River Park construction will move to Brooklyn”

The Washington Post · Aug. 1
“Composting in NYC is hard” 

Our Town · Aug. 12
“The Dirt on Composting in NYC”

CNA · Sep. 30
“New York City launches initiative on compostable waste”

The Village Sun · Nov. 12
“Smashing pumpkins in the East Village for community and compost”

W42 St · Dec. 7
“Full Bins, Full Hearts”

2021

Gothamist · Jan. 12
NYC’s Ambitious Composting Initiative Has Decomposed

CBS News · Jan. 17
“How manufacturers make it impossible to repair your electronics”

AMNY · Mar. 2
“East Side Coastal Resiliency report mysteriously appears with unreadable redactions”

Civil Eats · Mar. 3
“As Food Scrap Collection Peaks, NYC Community Compost Sites Face Evictions” 

Curbed · May 11
“The Destroy-It-to-Save-It Plan for East River Park New York’s first climate adaptation battle is here”

Urban Omnibus · May 12
“Maintaining Decomposure”

Canarsie Courier · Oct. 25
“Canarsie Getting Greener Thank to New Composting Program”

2020

Politico · Jan. 7
“Wasted Potential: New York City’s food recycling failures exacerbate climate crisis”

Bowery Boogie · Jan. 9
LES Ecology Center Compost Program in Danger or Being Bulldozed Due to Resiliency Project”

Bowery Boogie · Jan. 14
“Destruction of the LES Ecology Center’s Compost Yard is Folly [OP-ED]”

Curbed · Jan. 17
Lower East Side compost yard faces uncertain fate as resiliency project looms

Politico · May 4
Council, Residents Look to Salvage Organics Recycling Amid Budget Cuts”

Gothamist · May 17
New City Council Bills Would Bring Back Composting Drop-Off Sites

AMNY · July 28
New composting site comes to E. 7th Street on Lower East Side

Politico · Aug. 23
After brutal budget cuts, compost sites face eviction by Parks Department

AMNY · Sep. 23
Compost drop-off locations return to six Greenmarkets in New York City

Bklyner · Oct. 13
Two PLG Residents Pick Up the Slack After City Suspends Compost Programs

Bedford and Bowery · Oct. 26
LES Storm Protection Is Delayed As Covid Increases Demand For Parkland

Bowery Boogie · Oct. 29
Good News/Bad News for East River Park [OP-ED]

The Verge · Oct. 31
Lower East Side Ecology Center is accepting e-waste at NYC pop-up sites through November”

Street Blogs NYC · Nov. 19
Parks Department Closes Environmental Facility to Create a Parking Lot

Bowery Boogie · Dec. 8
LES Ecology Center to Headquarter in Seward Park During East Side Resilience Project

AMNY · Dec. 17
Save our compost’: New Yorkers to testify at City Council oversight hearing

City Limits · Dec. 20
Opinion: Parks’ Plan to Evict Beloved Composting Sites Would Strike Blow to NYC Climate Goals

NRDC · Dec. 20
NYC Parks Commissioner Pushing Out Community Composters

NRDC · Dec. 30
NYC Parks Department Still Doesn’t Get It on Composting

2019

Gizmodo · Feb. 19
Where Movies Get Their Vintage Electronics”

Komando · Feb. 22
This is the Place Where Hollywood Gets Its Vintage Gadgets”

The New York Times · Mar. 3
That Dusty Apple Macintosh Plus From the ’80s? It Could End Up on TV”

The New York Times · Apr. 3
One Thing You Can Do: Keep Your Old Gadgets Out of the Trash”

The New York Times · Oct. 23
Slowing Down to See Black and Blue”

Brownstoner · Dec. 27
Cleaning Out Your Closet in 2020? Here’s Where to Donate Your Stuff in Brooklyn”

2018

City Guide NY · Jul. 7
Yaaaaas Queens: A Broad City Guide to NYC

Now This Media · May 21
Composting, Explained

News 12 Brooklyn · Apr. 3
Gowanus warehouse recycles, refurbishes & shows off e-waste

AM New York · Apr. 2
‘The Americans’ and ‘The Blacklist’ use props found in Gowanus e-warehouse

Univision News · Mar. 29
LES Ecology Center lidera una feria de reciclaje de artículos electrónicos para los residentes de Nueva York”

BRIC TV · Mar. 5
Gowanus E-Waste Warehouse Gives Second Life to Old Electronics”

NY1 · Jan. 28
Queens Residents go Green at Annual Event”

2017

NBC New York · Oct. 10
Anthony Bourdain & Danny Bowien on ‘Wasted’”

Isaiah’s Figtree · Sep. 11
A Walk In The Park: East River Park”

FoodTank · Sep. 1
Datz-Romero: ‘We still have a long way to go to create sustainable systems’”

CityLimits · Aug. 16
Groups Around the City Pitch in to Keep Your Kitchen Waste Out Of Landfills”

Aljazeera · Jul. 7
New York recycling centre refurbishes and resells”

Hyperallergic · Jun. 20
Artists Tinker with Tech at an E-Waste Warehouse”

New York Times · Jun. 2
How New York Is Turning Food Waste Into Compost and Gas”

Queens Gazette · May 17
Nearly 10 Tons Of Electronics Collected At Addabbo And Miller Spring Recycling Event”

Brooklyn News 12 · Apr. 30
Group collects electronic waste to recycle”

Times Ledger · Apr. 9
Yeshiva hosts E-Waste recycling event in Flushing”

NY City Lens · Feb. 8
Waste not want not: An E-Waste Story”

NY1 · Jan. 30
Queens Botanical Gardens partners with Ecology Center to collect E-Waste”

QNS · Jan. 27
Get rid of your old TVs and computers at Queens Botanical Garden’s e-waste drive”

Patch.com · Jan. 3
New Yorkers Can Recycle Their Old Electronics in SoHo This Weekend”

2016

Chelsea Now · Oct. 26
“Block Association Commends Pols, Police, Peers”

RoomZoom · Oct. 14
“Going Green in Gowanus”

DNA Info · Aug. 25
“Gowanus Recycling Center Seeks Artist-in-Residence to Turn Junk Into Art”

Chelsea Now · Aug. 24
“Drop Off Digital Detritus at E-Waste Events”

NY1 · Jul. 17
“Lower East Side Ecology Center Holds E-Waste Recycling Event”

Crain’s New York Business · Jun. 28
“How to shrink the digital trash heap”

The Verge · Jun. 26
“How we made New York City with a pile of e-waste”

The Verge · Jun. 22
“E-Waste Empire”

Swell Season Surf Radio · Jun. 8
“Bioswales are a surfer’s first line of defense”

Epicure & Culture · Jun. 8
“Your Complete Guide To Hassle-Free Composting In NYC”

NY City Lens · Jun. 3
“It Takes A City to Compost”

Mashable · May 8
“Your Easy-Bake Oven isn’t technically e-waste, but we found out what is”

Inhabitat · May 3
“Composting 101: How to compost in NYC”

NYC Media · Apr. 27
“Urban Green: Composting”

Wall Street Journal · Mar. 18
“Used Electronics Are Recycled and Resold at New York Gadget Thrift Store”

Duro UAS ·  Mar. 17
“Interview: Christine Datz-Romero of the Lower East Side Ecology Center”

The Villager · Mar. 10
“Purple, pedicabs, a push for recycling: A look back at New York’s ‘Eco ’80s”

Brooklyn Daily Eagle · Mar. 4
“Faith In Brooklyn for March 4”

TheatreMania · Feb. 1
“Broadway Green Alliance Announces February E-Waste and Textile Drive”

The Villager · Jan. 4
“Composting Comes to Spring Street Twice a Week”

2015 and older

Bedford + Bowery · Dec. 29, 2015
“Forget What You Know, the East River Is Full of ‘Free Protein’ (Well, Sort Of)”

Tech.Mic · Nov. 19, 2015
“Inside the Massive Warehouse in Brooklyn That Holds All Your Discarded Electronics”

Urban Omnibus · Nov. 11, 2015
“Citymakers | Michael Saunders Turns Old Tech New”

Business Wire · Sep. 23, 2015
“Tekserve Falls into Autumn with Free eWaste Recycling Event for New York City”

City Lab · Jun. 11, 2015
“Where Your Old Electronics Go to Die (or Maybe Even Live Again)”

Canarsie Courier ·  Apr. 23, 2015
“It’s A Fine Time To Recycle – If You Don’t Want To Pay The Price”

The Lo-Down · Nov. 4, 2014
“Lower East Side Ecology Center Awarded $1 Million For East River Park Wetland”

CSRWire · Oct. 3, 2013
“Tekserve and Lower East Side Ecology Center Team Up for 6th Year of NYC eWaste Recycling”

The New Yorker · Aug. 9, 2013
“Compost State of Mind”

The Local East Village · Sep. 18, 2012
“Garbage Day | The Greenmarket’s Queen of Compost”

InHabitat · Feb. 1, 2012
“Lower East Side Ecology Center Opens Permanent E-Waste Drop-Off Depot in Gowanus”

The New York Times · Jan. 31, 2012
“An E-Waste Depot for Brooklyn”

The L Magazine · Jan. 27, 2012
“Permanent E-Waste Drop-off Site Opening in Gowanus Next Week”

The Villager · May 5, 2011
“Ecology center is giving merchants green to go green”

InHabitat · Apr. 28, 2011
“EcoBizNYC Grant Awards Ceremony with the Lower East Side Ecology Center”

The Indypendent · Aug. 4, 2009
“Connecting New York’s Waters With Its Residents”

The Villager · Apr. 29, 2009
“New cooking-oil pickup program getting cooking”

The Lo-Down · Apr. 24, 2009
“Silver, Stringer Announce Recycling Program at Russ & Daughters”

The Reeler · Jul. 26, 2007
“Indie Flavor, Green Focus at Animation Block Party”

The New York Times · Oct. 10, 1999
“CUTTINGS; Lessons From a School Where the Worm Club Rules”

The New York Times · Sep. 17, 1995
“CUTTINGS; Composting Thrives On the Lower East Side”