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LES ECOLOGY CENTER

@lesecologyctr

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🌱 Pioneering urban sustainability since 1987. 🌱 Composting | Environmental Education | Land Stewardship | Community Recycling

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🔌♻️ MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR NOVEMBER COMMUNITY RECYCLING EVENTS♻️🔌

We have more opportunities this month to recycle your old electronics, textiles, paint, and paper.

DROP-OFF DATES & LOCATIONS:

📅 11/1 - Flushing
📅 11/7 - Bushwick
📅 11/7 - Middle Village
📅 11/8 - Fresh Meadows
📅 11/8 - Harlem
📅 11/14 - Greenpoint
📅 11/14 - Carnegie Hill
📅 11/15 - Lower East Side
📅 11/21 - Bayside
📅 11/21 - Jamaica

Learn more at the link in our bio. 🔗 by @lesecologyctr

Goodbye to our beloved Dr. Katz, our favorite virtual call moderator, who recently passed away.

For many years, from East River Park to Seward Park, Dr. Katz made every virtual meeting a little brighter. No matter how busy we were, he always knew when it was time to take a break and always found a comfy spot to lie down, usually right on our keyboards.

He leaves behind an office full of people who miss his persistence when he wants a treat and/or attention. His brother Tiger is doing his best to fill his brother’s paws after being promoted to virtual call moderator, but we will always miss the OG.

We love you and miss you, Dr. Katz. ❤️🐾 by @lesecologyctr

Calling all tree huggers and soil tenders to join us on Thursday November 12 for Street Tree Care at Hamilton Fish Park! We will be picking up litter, aerating the soil, and adding our very own Earth Matter compost with our friends from Lower East Side Ecology Center. Register at the link in our bio 🌳🥰 by @lesecologyctr

Supporting a vibrant composting community network means sharing skills, resources and KNOWLEDGE! 🧠

Visitors at the Ecology Center's food scrap drop off site located at @grownyc's Union Square Greenmarket tested their knowledge on compost trivia! 🤓

Please note that the questions and answers in our trivia game focus on the residential waste stream within a community compost program. What will be accepted at your local compost site may vary. 🥬🪱

To learn more about the Ecology Center's composting work and food scrap drop-off sites, visit the link in our bio 🔗 by @lesecologyctr

🚨 We're Hiring! Join our team as a Compost Associate 🌿

Are you passionate and knowledgeable about composting? Committed to making a meaningful difference?

If so, we'd love to hear from you!

📩 Apply today. Visit our jobs page via the link in our bio.

#NowHiring #NonprofitJobs #EnvironmentalJustice #Sustainability #NYCJobs #JoinOurTeam by @lesecologyctr

We recently celebrated the participants of our “Coolest Block in the Lower East Side” contest! The contest brings together neighbors to care for street trees in the East Village, Lower East Side, and Chinatown neighborhoods. 🌳

While we’re especially proud of our contestants, the truth is that EVERYONE wins when we care for street trees. Coolest Block participants stewarded more than 100 trees in our neighborhood, which is designated an environmental-justice area. 💪

Recent data shows a dramatic reduction in tree coverage due to city projects in the Lower East Side, leaving the neighborhood with a tree canopy significantly below the citywide average. By promoting community stewardship, this initiative aims to restore and expand green spaces. 🙌

Participants were honored for their contributions to the urban forest in a few categories, including:
🏆 The Pollinator Power award, celebrating the use of native, pollinator friendly plantings
🏆 The Hive award, celebrating tree stewards that supported other neighborhood groups, in addition to their own block

Thank you to all our dedicated volunteers for their time and effort. Check back in March 2027 for the next edition of “Coolest Block in the Lower East Side.” 🐝 by @lesecologyctr

🎃2026 PUMPKIN SMASH IS HERE 🍂

Bring your pumpkins, gourds & jack-o’-lanterns to LES Ecology Center's Pumpkin Smash! Smash them into compost for NYC parks and green spaces 🌱

Enjoy the pumpkin smash zone, painting with food scraps, a community drumming circle led by Fabio Puentes from @cultura.pa.lante, create compost poetry with the @climatecafe.eco and @climateimaginarium!

Thank you to the lovely @alisoncynamon for creating our flyer and please share it your community!

📅Sunday, November 8th, 2026 (rain date: 11/ 15)
⏰12:00 PM - 3:00 PM
📍La Plaza Cultural Community Garden, 674 E 9th St, New York, NY 10009

Sign up link in bio

Please do not bring painted pumpkins, as they cannot be composted! by @lesecologyctr

Thank you to the Lower East Side Ecology Center, for the incredible honor of honoring me at your Fall Social! 🌳

I was especially touched by the kind words shared about our commitment to New York City’s urban forest.

During my four years on the City Council, we planter more than 1,000 new street trees and passed legislation creating New York City’s first Urban Forest Master Plan. The plan establishes a long-term strategy to protect, maintain, and expand our urban forest, with the goal of increasing tree canopy coverage to 30% of the city by 2040.

I also introduced legislation requiring medians separating protected bike lanes from vehicle traffic to be planted with vegetation wherever feasible, turning more of our streets into green spaces that support biodiversity, absorb stormwater, and help cool our neighborhoods.

Caring for our urban forest has always been about more than planting trees. It’s about building strong community partnerships, protecting biodiversity, combating extreme heat, and giving New Yorkers the tools to care for the green spaces in their neighborhoods.

I’m grateful to the @lesecologyctr for its partnership and for everything it does to make our city greener, healthier, and more sustainable.

And the work continues! On October 25, join the Lower East Side Ecology Center and me for a street tree care event at Verdi Square. Come get your hands dirty with us, and visit their website to learn about more volunteer opportunities! 🌳💚 by @lesecologyctr

Tree planting with the South Bronx Youth Council 🌳🍀🪴 #southbronx #justinsanchez #teamsanchez #youthcouncil #yaf by @lesecologyctr

This year we’re celebrating the street trees of the Lower East Side, and we made a small run of merch to mark it.

Here’s how to get this sweet merch:
1. Visit our website and make a $20 donation for a hat/bandana or a $40 donation for a shirt.
2. If you’d like your order shipped, please add a $5 donation to cover shipping. You’re also welcome to pick it up at our office by Seward Park, 184 East Broadway.
3. Once you make your donation, we will follow up with you to coordinate the item, size, and delivery or pickup.

🌱 Every purchase supports our fundraising this year and the work of caring for trees on our blocks.

designs by: @gandergrams by @lesecologyctr

🍁Fall is the perfect time to plant daffodil bulbs, install native flowers, and care for our street trees!

Volunteer with us for a morning of stewardship and hands-on fun. We will aerate soil, apply NYC-made compost and mulch, and plant native flowers and bulbs. Refreshments included, and all materials provided!

📅 Thursday, October 22nd, 2026
⏰ 11:00am - 1:00pm
📍Clyde Romero Memorial Garden, 213 East 7th Street, New York, 10009

Sign up link in bio by @lesecologyctr

Bokashi with Down to Earth Garden

In this video, we explore Down to Earth Garden’s Boskahi system! Boskahi is the process of fermenting food scraps in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment. After fermenting for at least two weeks, the food scraps are added to their compost system or buried in a trench with greens and soil to help build soil health and support a thriving garden ecosystem.

Have you ever used Boskahi in your green space? by @lesecologyctr