Randy Mastro, Mayor Adams’ top deputy at City Hall, ordered the Sanitation Department this week to stop fining most building owners over failing to comply with the city’s new mandatory composting rules — a reversal that comes despite the mayor’s strong backing of the program, sources told the Daily News on Friday.
On April 1, the Sanitation Department started to fine any building owners who flout the new rules, which took effect in October and require landlords to make sure food and other organic waste be separated from regular trash and placed in bins on the curb for pickup.
In the ensuing two and a half weeks, the agency has issued some 4,000 fines against derelict landlords, and Sanitation data shows there has since been an uptick in composting compliance.
But in a meeting Wednesday, Mastro, who started as Adams’ first deputy mayor on April 1, directed Sanitation officials to immediately stop fining most building owners for composting violations, according to administration sources familiar with the matter, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Mastro’s order was first reported by local news outlet Hell Gate.
Initially, Mastro wanted to pause the fine structure altogether, telling meeting attendees he had heard from property owners who complained about not being given enough time to prepare for the new rules, the sources revealed to The News.
Ultimately, a compromise was reached whereby owners of buildings with more than 30 units can still face fines, but only after receiving four warnings, the sources said. The fine pause will remain for the rest of 2025.
Council Sanitation Committee Chairman Shaun Abreu argued the program lacks teeth without fines and voiced concern it’ll send a message to building owners that they don’t, in fact, have to comply.
Citywide mandatory composting, complete with the fine structure, was first enacted via legislation by the Council in 2023.
Abreu told The News the Council is looking into whether Adams has the legal authority to postpone fine enforcement, raising the possibility of legal action.
“It’s very Trumpian,” he said of the fine reversal. “It’s a new way of life in City Hall.”
Brooklyn Councilwoman Shahana Hanif, who authored the 2023 bill creating the program, also accused Adams’ administration of not properly funding outreach efforts about the new composting regime last year. The new rules started in October on the premise that it would give the city enough time to educate landlords on how to comply with them before fines kicked in on April 1, but Hanif said the Adams administration’s outreach efforts had serious “shortcomings.”
Sanitation Department spokesman Josh Goodman Friday touted the agency collected nearly 3.8 million pounds of compost in the second week of April, three times the same period in 2024. He declined to comment on Mastro’s directive, referring all questions about it to Adams’ office.
Adams’ office didn’t immediately return calls and emails seeking comment.
The moves from Mastro, a controversial Giuliani administration alum, comes after Adams has touted mandatory composting as a signature issue for his mayoralty, saying in October that “prior administrations have tried, but we got it done.”
Though most of the fines are on pause, the Sanitation Department will continue citywide curbside composting pickup.
Mastro’s involvement in the composting issue comes after the New York Times reported earlier this week he has also been involved in slamming the brakes on the Adams administration’s long-running effort to turn Manhattan’s Elizabeth Street Garden into an affordable housing development.
The administration was initially expected to begin the Elizabeth Street Garden redevelopment as early as late March, but a source directly familiar with the matter confirmed to The News the plan is now on hold as Mastro has gotten involved and is exploring whether an “alternative site” could be identified for the housing. Opponents to the development include celebrities like Robert DeNiro, Martin Scorsese and Patti Smith.
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