The NYC Compost Project was created by the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) in 1993. Funded and managed through the Department of Sanitation's Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling, the NYC Compost Project programs are carried out by Department-funded staff at the City's Botanical Gardens and the Lower East Side Ecology Center.

The NYC Compost Project develops and conducts many innovative programs to encourage residential and institutional composting. Each NYC Compost Project location hosts a home composting demonstration site and a composting telephone helpline, and offers a variety of compost-related workshops and classes for residents, teachers, school groups, groundskeepers, landscapers, and other interested parties. NYC Compost personnel and volunteers regularly disseminate composting and recycling information at thousands of community events, and offer compost bins for sale at discount to NYC residents, subsidized by DSNY.

The goal of this project is to provide compost outreach and education to New York City residents and businesses.

The average New York City household discards two pounds of organic waste each day, adding up to more than one million tons of organic material a year. The NYC Compost Project helps to divert this waste from landfills and transform it into a valuable resource. NYC Compost Projects are currently operational in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.