BGT at BK ROT!
Our Fall ‘22 Big Green Theater students recently took a field trip to BK ROT to learn about composting! BGT teaching intern, Jonathan Assensoh, reflects on the experience.
Before heading to BK ROT’s site, the kids and staff watched a video about what BK ROT does. 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.
After watching the video, some of the students were awed by the microhaulers carrying 200-300 pounds of food scraps with their bikes. Others were excited to see the machines or the processing of the food scraps. Beforehand, they didn’t really know what the importance of composting was or didn’t realize they have organizations like BK ROT in their city and neighborhoods. During the walk to the site, the kids were asked to point out anything they didn't like about the neighborhood, environment-wise. They pointed out things like litter and trash, which there was a lot of along the way.
When we arrived at BK ROT a lot of the kids said that they passed it by without ever knowing it was there or what it was. When we sat down inside, they noticed a lot of bugs and bees and other things that they didn’t think they would see in a space so close to them, as well as tall trees and other plants. A lot of kids said that they felt they were “outside”, like they never thought they could have that feeling of a green space right there in their neighborhood. When we toured the site and explained composting and microhauling to them, the kids understood the “what” it was that BK ROT did but not yet the “why”. They learned new words like windrow, which they all were excited to touch (they’re warm in the middle). In the end, the kids learned why composting was so important and how local composting helps in the fight for environmental justice. They were pretty surprised by how much BK ROT and other communities and organizations do to help local areas to give back to the community.
-Jonathan Assensoh, BGT teaching intern
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.
