"BK ROT is New York City's first community-supported, bike-powered, fossil fuel free food waste hauling and composting service. Their project is staffed by young people of color who haul residential and commercial organic waste and transform it into high quality compost. Their operations provide accessible jobs and sustained professional development for emerging environmental leaders. They are designing and implementing a new kind of waste system, one that uses food waste as the foundation for a healthy urban ecosystem, that uplifts the people and places responsible for managing waste, and that demonstrates the power of a regenerative green economy. They are supporting the next generation of environmental and climate justice leaders who will shape our city." Follow and support BKROT: Web: https://www.bkrot.org/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bk_rot/ @bk_rot Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BKROTCompost/ Thank you to Guerrilla Foundation for funding this video of solutions. http://guerillafoundation.org/​ Co-produced by Jasmine Hayden, Robin Greenfield and Jameson Johnson. Filmed by Jasmine Hayden: https://www.instagram.com/herewegrow.productions @herewegrow.productions Edited by Jameson Johnson. Robin Greenfield is a truth-seeker, activist, social reformer and servant to Earth, humanity and our plant and animal relatives. He lives simply and sustainably to be the change he wishes to see in the world. Through living closely connected to Earth, he rejects the status quo of consumerism and demonstrates a way of being in gratitude, mindfulness and presence. His life is an experiment with truth and integrity. Robin’s public activism involves dramatic actions designed to provoke critical thought, self-reflection and positive change. His activism creates nuanced conversations on the critical issues of our time, with a focus on solutions for living in harmony. His life’s work has been covered by media worldwide and he has been named “The Robin Hood of Modern Times” by France 2 TV and “The Forrest Gump of Ecology”. Robin has committed to earning below the federal poverty threshold for life and donates 100% of his media earnings to grassroots nonprofits, with a focus on supporting Black and Indigenous women-led organizations. This channel is a resource for all who seek to liberate themselves, to live in truth and integrity, and to live in harmony with Earth, humanity and the plants and animals we share this home with. Robin Greenfield and Dear Friends share means of achieving liberation and harmony through sustainable living, simple living, tiny house living, foraging, growing food and medicine, minimalism, zero waste, earth-skills, food sovereignty, community resilience, compassionate communication, activism, Black Liberation, Indigenous Sovereignty and living in service. Find Robin Greenfield on: Website: https://www.robingreenfield.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Robin.Greenfield Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Robin.Greenfield @Robin.Greenfield Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RobinGreenfieldPage Robin Greenfield’s work is offered as a gift to the public domain. This content is Creative Commons and is free to be copied, republished and redistributed. Learn about Creative Commons and follow the guidelines here: https://www.robingreenfield.org/creativecommons

Meet the Brooklyn teenagers using food scraps to give back to their community. The teens are employees at BK ROT, a composting service in North Brooklyn, New York. The company, which aims to provide compost in order for people to grow fresh produce and to process some of New York’s waste, provides job opportunities to local teens in an are known for high youth unemployment. The teens are split into two teams: bikers and composters. The bikers go around the city picking up organic waste, while the composters process that waste to package and sell. That compost is sold in stores for $7 a bag. BK ROT processes up to 15,000 pounds of food waste a month, a point of pride for its employees. The teens say they’re thankful to have a job that teaches them self-accountability, and that they’re inspired by their work at a company that values environmental responsibility. Who knew a few bikes and some trash could have such an impact? Subscribe to Vocativ: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=vocativvideo Find us everywhere else: Subscribe to the newsletter: http://www.vocativ.com/pages/newsletter/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Vocativ Twitter: https://twitter.com/vocativ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vocativ/ Snapchat: http://www.snapchat.com/add/vocativ Website: http://www.vocativ.com

BK ROT is a composting service and youth employment project in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Each week, youth workers pick up food scraps on bike from households and businesses, and turn them into compost that will get sold or donated to local gardening and urban agriculture projects. Since Spring of 2016, all of their bikers have sported Nutcase Helmets whenever they’re out on the road. When Sandy Nurse came up with the idea for BK ROT in 2011, she wanted to address two big issues: one was the need for composting infrastructure that could allow urban dwellers to do something productive with their food scraps while keeping them local. The other was the need for good jobs for Black and Brown youth, working class youth, and immigrant youth in the growing green economy of New York City. Sandy explains that BK ROT is “trying to find ways to put value on the ecological work that needs to happen in Bushwick, and to create opportunities for the people who don’t get to get that kind of work or who are usually less considered for it.” BK ROT is building a new kind of recycling system, one that doesn’t just turn trash into value: it turns trash into good jobs, green space, and community. Alongside co-facilitator Renee Peperone, Sandy helps to coordinate the week-to-week activities of BK ROT. But most of the work is done by the project’s youth, who communicate with customers, manage payments, pick up food scraps, turn them into compost, distribute finished product, and represent the project at public events. The youth aren’t just hauling waste, they are becoming experts at running a compost system, and it shows when you talk to them: they know what’s going on at the microbial level in a compost pile, how to tell if a pile needs more browns or more water, when the compost is ready to sift and sell. As BK ROT has grown (we now compost 4300 pounds of organic material every month!) the youth workers have spent more of their time on bike, collecting food scraps from our expanding customer base. This means bike safety has become more important than ever for BK ROT, and the helmets donated by Nutcase keep our riders safe and visible as they navigate the streets of Bushwick and Bed-Stuy. With help from Nutcase and other generous donors, BK ROT has been able to grow and implement a project that keeps food scraps local and creates good jobs for youth. If you’d like to get involved in BK ROT, or to become a member, please visit bkrot.org, or follow them on Instagram (@bk_rot) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BKROTS).

7,000 lbs of locally captured food waste was turned into compost. We then delivered it to the Good Life Garden in Bushwick, Brooklyn where it will cure as a windrow over the winter and be ready for use in February for germinating seeds and activating dormant grow beds.