NYC mandates residential buildings to start putting all trash in containers next year
NEW YORK CITY - Another sweeping change is coming in the city's war on rats as Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday that nearly all residential buildings will have to containerize their trash, beginning fall of next year.
Since the city started making changes targeting the rat population, including the reduction of the number of hours garbage sits on our streets, 311 calls reporting rat complaints have declined.
War on rats: NYC to require all businesses use trash bins in 2024
The crack down on the city’s rat problem months ago called for containerizing trash with food-related-businesses such as restaurants, grocery stores, delis and bodegas.
Now, City Hall says its next move to containerize trash will apply to buildings with nine or fewer units, which make up 95% of residential properties in the city.
"We published the first ever block-by-block study of the feasibility of containerization in the city, finding the long‑buried truth that it can work if we just have the political will to get it done," Tisch said.
The next chapter also involves replacing approximately 5% of the city's 3 million – mostly free – street parking spaces to make a way for trash containers to be put out. A move many drivers are expected to complain about, but the mayor urges those drivers to think of the 80% of New Yorkers who do not own cars.
Featured
Here are the dirtiest cities in the US, report finds
A new report ranked these urban areas based on sanitation-related complaints. See where your city ranks on the list.
"New Yorkers are sensitive about their parking spaces. They're sensitive about everything, trust me..." the Mayor said in jest about drivers during the announcement Wednesday.
"They're very opinionated. But when you do an analysis of a few parking spaces over the cleanliness, you are clearly hearing from everyday New Yorkers they're tired of the rodents, they're tired of the trash. And this is a small price to pay to ensure that you can have cleaner streets. And I hear that more than anything," Adams said.
The city says it wants to make it easy for buildings to comply and has begun a procurement process to find a company to make bins of different sizes at fixed prices that will be sold at below-market cost. The bins will cost less than $50 for most common sizes and are to be designed to last for 10 years.