City backs off on composting fines after widespread anger from building owners

These fines are getting trashed.

The city is backing off on heavy monetary penalties for those who fail to compost their garbage — marking a major rollback less than three weeks after the mandatory program went into effect and after a record number of compostable trash was collected.

Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro and several high-ranking officials called for the stark switch-up following widespread anger and confusion over the original guidelines, which placed stiff fines on those who refused to sort their trash, according to sources

Effective immediately, only buildings with more than 30 units can be fined for refusing to compost.

Larger properties will also have plenty of time to clean up their acts under the relaxed rules — four warnings will be issued before they are slapped with a $100 fine, which they can also expect for every subsequent violation.

Previous rules called for fines to start at $100, but reach, and remain at, $300 after the third violation.

While homeowners and smaller apartments will not be punished until next year, all residences across the city are expected to continue composting, officials emphasized.

“Make no mistake: Composting continues to be mandatory in New York City. Mayor Adams has led by example on this issue and composts daily, whether he is at Gracie Mansion or at City Hall, but he has also heard from New Yorkers across all five boroughs — including at town halls — who still have questions about this extremely important program,” City Hall said in a statement.

“In an effort to facilitate even higher participation, we will conduct additional outreach and education on composting before issuing fines to the most persistent offenders who repeatedly refuse to compost. Through the end of the year, we will be distributing additional education materials and holding more community events about how to sort out waste.”

The Department of Sanitation could not provide further comment, directing The Post back to the Mayor’s Office.

The new rules reportedly came under the direction of Mastro, who strode into City Hall last month, and several other unnamed officials, sources confirmed to The Post.

He purported that New Yorkers weren’t properly informed about the compost program, though Sanitation has been slowly rolling it out since 2023, Hell Gate first reported.

The major switch-up comes just one day after the agency exclusively shared with The Post that a record-breaking 3.8 million pounds of compostable materials — equal in weight to eight and a half Statues of Liberty– were collected in a single week.

The program is so successful that Sanitation is opening a third compost giveaway site in Queens, which returns 40 pounds of garden-grade compost back to New Yorkers for free.

Some 3,600 summonses were handed out during the first two weeks of mandatory composting, which has been controversial since its April 1 start date.

Landlords and property managers have decried the mandate as unsustainable, arguing that it would force their staff to dumpster-dive into piles of trash to separate the food scraps that their tenants, benefiting from the anonymity granted by trash chutes, declined to sort.