Decomposing Utopia: Experimental Infrastructures for Decay in the NYC Compost Project

• In Event: Experimental Infrastructures: Material Insufficiency, Scale, and the Question of (Im)possibility - I

Abstract

The NYC Compost Project (NYCCP), operating out of the Department of Sanitation of NYC (DSNY), connects a loose network of community compost sites that operate out of gardens, schools, and reclaimed lots. The systems supported by the NYCCP respond to local needs for good soil, green space, and ethical disposal, but also to the city’s interests in waste reduction and cultural change around organics recycling. I this paper, I discuss the role of community composting at the intersection of urban governance and grassroots infrastructure, describing how their utopian visions of the composting city are captured by DSNY. Using the concept of “experimental infrastructures,” I also describe how these alternative spaces open up new possibilities for waste management, by exploring new values in composting, and nurturing new communities of composters.

Author

• Guy Schaffer, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute