Impact Spotlight

Solar workshops for six youth leaders and three staff

Solar powered E-Trikes for 8 local businesses, three residential buildings, and 60 households

Powering the diversion of hundreds of tons of organic waste from landfills towards high quality compost

About

Bushwick, New York, residents face a concentration of waste infrastructure, high youth unemployment rates, lack of community composting options, and increasing inequalities from rapid gentrification. Bushwick’s community is 87% people of color, and 25% of the population lives below the poverty line. Bushwick also grapples with additional environmental injustices, including the legacy of lead in soils and the lack of open space, gardens, and other green spaces.

BK ROT was founded as a grassroots solution to environmental racism, youth unemployment, and lack of community composting in Brooklyn, NY. Their regenerative, closed-loop organic waste processing operation uses e-trike transportation to haul organic waste from a network of local partners and businesses back to their facility. Employees who come almost exclusively from the surrounding community, and a team of youth workforce trainees staff the operation, which diverts over 100 tons of organic waste and produces over 50 tons of compost for their community per year.

“BK ROT allows me to interact with my community in ways I never did before; I’ve been able to see new faces, hear new stories and learn about new species from within our compost pile.”

— Angie, Drop Off Manager & Youth Leaders Program Alum

HF Partnership

With the Honnold Foundation’s support, BK ROT’s solar installation will power their composting facility and community kitchen. The install will also begin transitioning their e-trike fleet towards 100% renewable energy. Funding also supports an education program to train youth leaders on how solar arrays are sited, constructed, and maintained.