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Welcome to
BK ROT!

We are NYC's first bike powered food waste hauling and composting service

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Our services 

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Join the movement! Dozens of small Brooklyn businesses are composting their organic waste with BK ROT. Affordable rates! Easy sign up!

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100% locally sourced compost made by hand at our site, Know Waste Lands. Perfect for houseplants, growing veggies, and building soils. Pick-up BK ROT compost at our site (order here) and select stores. Check out our site for compost tips!

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Rabbit Roots is a home food scraps pick up service. For a monthly rate our bikers will collect from your door to our compost site. Sign up here!

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It's hard to compost in NYC! We are sharing some resources on how to compost from home. If you missed out on our worm bin orders, we share a lot of information on how you can make them yourself.

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FOOD SCRAPS DROP OFF

Live nearby? Our year-round food scraps is open again on Sundays
12-3pm. Learn more about what to bring and our COVID-19 Drop Off Protocol. 

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CONSULTATION 

We can help you strategize the best system and management method of your home, business, or organization composting.   

TESTIMONIALS

Owner, Little Skips

"The idea itself is amazing. Using our grounds for a project that's local, that's supporting the community, and the kids in the community, I thought that was really great. That's something we've always been about. Since we've opened its always been about community and building partnerships that have the same ethics."

Max Sussman

Owner, Samesa NYC

"Our trash is pretty low here and our compost has been a sort of a learning curve. It's weird to have three trash cans in a restaurant, but at the end of the day it cuts down on waste and makes people more responsible in the kitchen and its good from a cost perspective as well. It makes us feel good that we're composting because not throwing out big trash bags every night."

Linda Thach

ABOUT BK ROT

What's BK ROT?

What's BK ROT?

OUR WORK
OUR VALUES 

BK ROT is New York City's first community-supported, bike-powered, fossil fuel free food waste hauling and composting service. Our project is staffed by young people of color who haul residential and commercial organic waste and transform it into high quality compost. Our operations provide accessible jobs and sustained professional development for emerging environmental leaders.

BK ROT is a community centered, closed loop, fossil-fuel free approach to hauling and composting food waste in NYC. We represent a localized green economy rooted in the principles and values of environmental justice. BK ROT creates space for the leadership of young people of color who disproportionately face the consequences of environmental destruction and yet whose visions and values are excluded from the dominant policy and design strategies for urban sustainability. We prioritize slow growth with deep roots versus rapid expansion that is not grounded. We 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. We are supporting the next generation of environmental and climate justice leaders who will shape our city.

These Compost Bike Pick Ups Should Be Everywhere
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These Compost Bike Pick Ups Should Be Everywhere

Learn more at https://www.bkrot.org/ Subscribe to Goodful: https://bzfd.it/2QApoPk Credits: Co-Producer and Director of Photography - Jasmine Hayden @jasminehaydenn Special Thanks: Rob Greenfield Jasmine Hayden Goodful Goodful Feel better, be better, and do better. Subscribe to Goodful for all your healthy self care needs, from food to fitness and everything in between! Connect with Goodful: Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialgood... Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodful/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/goodful Check out our website: https://www.goodful.com/ Subscribe to the Goodful Newsletter: https://www.buzzfeed.com/newsletters/goodful GET MORE BUZZFEED: https://www.buzzfeed.com https://www.buzzfeed.com/videos https://www.youtube.com/buzzfeedvideo https://www.youtube.com/asis https://www.youtube.com/buzzfeedmultiplayer https://www.youtube.com/buzzfeedunsolvednetwork http://youtube.com/buzzfeedceleb https://www.youtube.com/perolike https://www.youtube.com/buzzfeedviolet https://www.youtube.com/goodful https://www.youtube.com/nifty https://www.youtube.com/buzzfeedtasty https://www.youtube.com/bringme https://www.youtube.com/abouttoeat SUBSCRIBE TO BUZZFEED NEWSLETTERS: https://www.buzzfeed.com/newsletters Credits: https://www.buzzfeed.com/bfmp/videos/112054 VIDEO Brooklyn intersection at sunset. Little Crush Film Co./Getty Images Grocery Store ATM Machine Erik Van Ingen/Getty Images A dump truck deposits paper, paper products and other bits of trash into a bin at a collection facility. Discovery Access/Getty Images A garbage man puts some corrugated boxed in the back of a garbage truck in NYC at night Chuck and Sarah Fishbein/Getty Images Aerial view garbage commandoXphoto/Getty Images https://www.youtube.com/c/Goodful
Diverting 320,000 Pounds of Food Scraps by Bike!
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Diverting 320,000 Pounds of Food Scraps by Bike!

"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
BK Rot - Volunteering by Bicycle
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BK Rot - Volunteering by Bicycle

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).
What's BK ROT?
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936,000 lbs 

Food waste diverted from the landfill & composted

4,500 Bike Miles

Emissions-Free Hauling of Food Waste Per Year

427,000 lbs

High Quality Compost Created by BK ROT Youth

$210,000

Income Generated for Young Workers

Our Team

OUR TEAM

BK ROT's staff listed in order of who has been on our team the longest, followed by BK ROT's Board in alphabetical order. 

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Victor

Operations Manager & Microhauler

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Nick

Microhauler

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Isaac

Microhauler

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Nora

Co-Director 

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Shanni

Operations Coordinator

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Kim

Board Member

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Priya

Board Chair

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Devon

Drop Off Manager

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Lesly

 Microhauler-Composter

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Angie

Drop Off Manager

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Dior

Co-Director 

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Karina

Social Media

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Genea

Board Member

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Shaq

Operations Specialist

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Shareef

Microhauler-Composter

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Stacy

Drop Off Manager
Microhauler-Composter

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Ash

Microhauler-Composter

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Dan

Board Treasurer

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Guy

Board Secretary

OUR CLIENTS

CLIENTS
CONTACT

CONTACT US

BK ROT Open Hours

We are open for food scrap drop off year round:

Sundays: 12-3pm

Food scraps are ONLY accepted on Sundays. Scraps will not be accepted outside of these hours. 

Volunteer at BK ROT

If you would like to volunteer or set up a group workshop or tour, please fill out our volunteer form.

Drop us a note

Thanks! Message sent.

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