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Later garbage times start Saturday as NYC fights 'Trash City'
By
Sophia Chang
Published Mar 29, 2023
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Justin Lane/EPA/Shutterstock
By
Sophia Chang
Published Mar 29, 2023
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Trash bags won’t be allowed on the sidewalks of New York before 8 p.m. starting Saturday under new sanitation department rules that aim to fight the city’s rat infestation and festering garbage mountains.
It’s a four-hour shift from a decades-old rule that allowed residents and businesses to stack their garbage bags on the curb as early as 4 p.m.
There’s some leeway under the new regulations, as residents who have trash cans with secured lids will be permitted to put bins at the curb as early as 6 p.m. on collection days. And owners of businesses that close before 8 p.m. can put garbage cans with lids on sidewalks up to an hour before they shut their doors.
The rules require trash to go out before midnight, but large residential buildings with nine or more units that receive an exemption from the city can put out garbage late at night for pickup between between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m.
Sanitation officials hope reducing the hours trash sits on the street will give rats less time to chow down. The city recently mailed out flyers stating the rule changes will “send rats packing." The mailer showed a photo of a rat toting a wheeled suitcase.
City officials hope new trash rules will "send rats packing."
New York City Department of Sanitation
Officials said the later set out times will also soften sidewalk congestion caused by mountains of trash bags that pile up on streets and sidewalks during the day.
“From my perspective, this change in set out times is at least a decade overdue,” Sanitation Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a City Council hearing on March 16. “We New Yorkers – businesses and residences – put out about 45 million pounds of trash and recycling every day. And it sits on our curbs on every block in every neighborhood for 14 hours a day. And that is why New York City is known as ‘Trash City.’”
Still, the change is bad news for some New Yorkers. Pinny Gestetner, an executive of BSM Facility Solutions, which services 700 residential buildings in the city, said the new rules will hit his company’s bottom line.
“If you're in a building and you maintain it during the day, you can place it out at the same time,” said Gestetner. “If you need to come back in the evening, or have later shifts, that obviously increases expenses.”
Gestetner also scoffed at the idea that a four-hour difference will make a dent in the rat population.
“The problem is not that [the garbage bags are] laying on the curb,” he said. “The problem is that [the rats] are coming out at night, exactly the time that the garbage needs to be placed out now.”
Sanitation officials said they plan to begin cracking down on New Yorkers who flout the new rule. Violators will receive written warnings after a one-month grace period, officials said. But eventually the agency plans to start issuing fines to scofflaws: $50 for the first offense, $100 for the second offense and $200 for any further offenses.
Tagged
sanitation
new york city
public safety
environment
Politics
Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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