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Read the press release here.

Lunch Scraps to Be Composted in Every Manhattan and Staten Island School

By Nicholas Rizzi | October 6, 2014 2:12pm
 The city will expand its in-school collection of food scraps and organic waste to more than 720 schools around the city, including every public school in Manhattan and Staten Island.
The city will expand its in-school collection of food scraps and organic waste to more than 720 schools around the city, including every public school in Manhattan and Staten Island.
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NEW YORK CITY — Uneaten school lunches will soon be feeding plants under an expansion of the city's composting program.

The city's in-school scrap collection program will grow from 90 schools to more than 720 around the city — including every public school in Manhattan and Staten Island, the Department of Sanitation announced Monday.

The program collects food, yard waste and discarded paper  — which makes up nearly one-third of garbage sent to landfills — to convert into compost or natural gas, the Sanitation Department said.

“Our children are learning the importance of preserving our natural resources through initiatives like the Organics Collection Program,” Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña said in a statement.