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Mamdani to swap parking spots for more than 6,500 curbside Empire Bins across NYC
By
Liam Quigley
Published Apr 17, 2026
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Liam Quigley / Gothamist
By
Liam Quigley
Published Apr 17, 2026
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Large trash bins will soon dot the curb across New York City, replacing piles of garbage bags that have blocked sidewalks for decades.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Friday that the city will roll out the Spanish-made Empire Bins for the first time in the Bronx, Staten Island and Queens, and expand their use in Manhattan and Brooklyn, by the end of 2027.
The move represents a major expansion of a program first implemented in Manhattan last year by former Mayor Eric Adams. The bins are serviced by specially made garbage trucks that have a system to lift the bins into their compactors. City officials say they have led to a significant reduction in rat sightings in West Harlem, where residents already use roughly 1,100 of the bins.
Mamdani said the city will deploy more than 6,500 bins in the planned expansion, which will be mandatory for residential buildings with 30 or more units. Sanitation officials have said the bins could one day replace thousands of the city’s parking spots.
“In the wealthiest city in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, no New Yorker should have their sidewalks covered in garbage,” Mamdani said in a statement. “We have the plan, we’re investing the money and we’re delivering on the promise of clean, healthy streets for every neighborhood.”
The bins can only be opened by building staff with a keycard, or by sanitation workers. Side-loading garbage trucks pull up to the bins and dump their contents into the compactor, avoiding the need for sanitation workers to heave trash bags from the curb and around parked cars.
Schools in some neighborhoods in Brooklyn received Empire Bins last year, and work is already underway to bring the bins to Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Downtown Brooklyn.
In that borough, the expanded rollout will bring the bins to Prospect Heights, Crown Heights and Weeksville, according to City Hall.
In Manhattan, residents of the West Village, SoHo, Little Italy and Greenwich Village will get Empire Bins over the next 18 months.
In the Bronx, residents of Hunts Point, Longwood, University Heights, Mount Hope, Morris Heights, and Fordham Heights will receive the bins.
Queens will get Empire Bins in Sunnyside, Hunters Point and Woodside.
On Staten Island, the bins will be installed in St. George, West Brighton and Port Richmond.
Residential buildings with between 10 and 30 units can opt in to receive the Empire Bins, officials said. Mamdani has said he would follow through and fully containerize the city’s waste by 2032.
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Zohran Mamdani
new york city
sanitation
Liam Quigley
Liam Quigley is a reporter covering parks & sanitation for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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