NYC Schools Make Gains on Composting but Lag Behind on Food Waste, Comptroller Finds

New York, NY - A review by the Office of the New York City Comptroller released today found that while the public school system has made progress in composting food, only about one-third of waste is currently collected and diverted from landfill. The review offered a series of recommendations for New York City Public Schools to maximize composting by centralizing its program and setting clear targets.

"Providing nearly a million meals to New York City public school students every day is a massive and often underappreciated undertaking by city government," said New York City Comptroller Mark Levine. "But the scale of that effort makes it even more important to get food waste right. With a more centralized approach to data collection, program assessment, and communication, we can cut emissions, strengthen sustainability efforts in our schools, and potentially save money in the school food budget."

NYC Schools provides guidance on preventing waste through its food prevention plan, among other resources, which aim to improve sustainability practices in schools. These include strategies like batch cooking, meant to reduce leftovers which may need to be discarded, the "offer vs. serve" method, allowing students to select only some of the food offered, and guidance for school food managers and mandatorily appointed sustainability coordinators, who respectively train kitchen staff and engage students and staff. NYC Schools has made progress in reducing waste, but a review by the Comptroller's Office identified areas for the initiatives to improve.

• Zero Waste Schools Program Has Improved Participation. The number of schools reportedly participating in the Zero Waste Schools program increased from 725 in FY17 to all 1,715 schools in FY24. The amount of compostable waste collected nearly quadrupled over that same period of time, increasing from 6,278 to 24,477 tons.

• Limited Capture of Compostable Material. Food scraps made up about one-third of all waste generated by schools in FY23. Yet only 37% of those scraps were captured for composting. Additionally, 28% of compostable materials (food scraps, food-soiled paper and compostable packaging, and yard waste) in one analysis were contaminated - meaning they included materials unsuitable for composting, such as paper and plastics - far exceeding the City's overall organics contamination rate of 4%.

• Food Donation Programs Lacked Clear Goals. In FY25, only 4% of the system's 1,319 school buildings donated food to outside organizations, despite State legislation that permits and encourages schools to establish means for donating unused food that cannot be saved for future school meals. In contrast, 59% of schools during the 2025 school year said they had a food sharing table for the purpose of collecting food to be donated.

• No Aggregate Measure of Success.Whereas the report was able to obtain some data on food waste reduction practices, NYC Schools does not collect or analyze schools' effectiveness at minimizing food waste on an aggregate level.

• Staffing, Training and Communication Shortfalls. In order to better understand the causes of these systemic issues in food waste prevention programs, the Comptroller's Office review team conducted a survey of public schools. The results pointed to shortfalls in adequate staffing and training, as well as knowledge of where to find guidance on program implementation.

• Set Clear Program Goals. Establish system-wide targets for participation in composting, food donation and other programs established to reduce food waste.

• Broaden Data Collection. Compile system-wide data to support the assessment of progress against such targets.

• Comprehensively Assess Program Success. Conduct, and publish the results of, centralized assessment of progress - by school and by program - identify barriers to progress, and develop strategies for improvement.

• Develop system-wide training and outreach programs to: Increase participation in all of food waste reduction programs; Encourage information and idea sharing, and create opportunities for collaboration, amongst sustainability coordinators across the school system; Improve the percentage of food waste that is captured as potential compost, and; Reduce contamination to ensure that what is captured is compostable.