Dear Mayor Solomon and Members of the Jersey City Council,

On behalf of Riverview Community Garden, we are writing to express our deep disappointment with the decision to eliminate Jersey City's Residential Compost Drop-Off Program as part of the current budget cuts.

As a community garden, we see firsthand the value of composting every day. It enriches our soil, helps our gardens thrive, reduces waste, and brings neighbors together. The city's composting program has helped make those benefits possible by giving residents a practical way to keep food waste out of landfills.

That is why this decision is so discouraging.

Over the past several years, Jersey City has experienced extraordinary growth. Thousands of new residents have moved here, and the city has encouraged citizens to embrace composting as part of its environmental vision. People responded; families changed their routines and separated their food scraps because they believed in a more sustainable future. 

In 2025, the Fulop administration announced the expansion of the city's composting program, stating it had collected and diverted "more than 2.4 million pounds of waste from landfills." That makes the timing of this decision especially frustrating. Just as the program has grown, it is being eliminated—sending a message that environmental initiatives are expendable, the first to be sacrificed in a budget crisis. 

Without municipal composting, millions of pounds of food waste will once again be sent to landfills, where it produces methane—a potent greenhouse gas—and wastes a valuable resource that could instead be returned to the soil. This is a step backward for a city that has repeatedly promoted itself as a leader in sustainability and climate action.

As a community garden, we are often asked whether we can take the food scraps instead. The answer is, unfortunately, no, not at this scale. We currently maintain five compost bins in the back of our garden, and we process a portion of the food waste neighbors drop off to produce our own compost, compost we recently handed out to residents (and even Mayor Solomon) on Sustainability Day at Riverview Farmers Market. But we (along with the other community gardens across Jersey City) do not have the capacity, equipment, volunteers, or infrastructure to process the enormous volume of organic waste generated by a city of 300,000 people.

Despite these limitations, we are exploring ways to organize and raise funds so that some form of compost collection can continue in our neighborhood, potentially partnering with compost pick up companies like Community Compost Company to help with the overflow. We will take in as much compost as possible during our weekend open hours (10am-2pm). We are willing to do our part because the program is worth saving.

The city has provided no meaningful transition plan or guidance for community organizations, and very little time to prepare before ending the program. Yesterday, compost was piling up and overflowing from the toters in the shed outside. Today, the shed has been zip-tied closed without even a note. Residents are emailing us to find out what’s going on and where they can drop their compost. If the administration truly values community partnerships, it should be working alongside us, not leaving volunteers to scramble to replace a public service with little notice.

Budget decisions are never easy, but they reflect a city's priorities. Composting is not a luxury. It is an essential public program that gives residents a tangible way to participate in building a healthier, more resilient Jersey City.

We urge you not only to reconsider this decision, but also to engage directly with community gardens and the many residents who have supported this program from the beginning. We stand ready to be part of the solution. Jersey City has worked hard to establish itself as a forward-thinking, environmentally conscious city. We should not abandon that progress now. 

Respectfully,

The Board of Riverview Community Garden
Jersey City Heights