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Mayor Adams' newest weapon in war on rats: Trash can lids
By
Sophia Chang
Published Jun 28, 2023
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Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
By
Sophia Chang
Published Jun 28, 2023
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There’s a new front in the city’s war on rats and it can be found in bodegas, restaurants, grocery stores and cafes.
On Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams announced a new rule requiring all food-related businesses to use trash cans with lids to store garbage on sidewalks. The policy aims to cut down on the mountains of stinky garbage bags that clutter New York sidewalks and serve as a buffet for rodents, city officials said.
Adams hailed the policy as “transformative” during a press conference, saying trash will soon be “less appetizing” to rats.
“We will keep our streets cleaner for longer,” Adams said. “It would vastly improve the cleanliness and quality of life across the five boroughs.”
Businesses can choose the types and sizes of garbage cans they use to store trash, as long as they have a secure lid.
Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said businesses that can’t fit a large trash can inside – like tiny storefronts or kiosks – can store it within 3 feet of their property line outside.
“One of the new things that you'll see as part of these rules is much more flexibility on where those containers can be stored, and it's because we know every business is different and we try to be as accommodating as possible,” Tisch said.
The sanitation department doesn’t collect trash from private businesses like it does from residential buildings. Private businesses must instead pay for a private carting company or get city approval to haul it away themselves.
While there will be a period of outreach and warnings after Aug. 1, the city will eventually issue tickets to business owners who flout the new rule, Tisch said. Fines will start at $50 for the first offense.
The city is also proposing that chain businesses with five or more locations – including franchises – must use trash cans with lids. Public hearings must be held on that proposal before it can go into effect.
The policies will affect a quarter of all of New York’s businesses. The city hopes lidded trash cans will keep rats away from an estimated 4 million pounds of commercial garbage.
The effort is part of a broader push to limit garbage bags on city sidewalks.
Earlier this year, the sanitation department reduced the hours residential buildings are allowed to put trash on the curbs to later in the day. Tisch said there have been 45,000 summonses or warnings issued by the sanitation department related to the new timeframe since April 1.
Officials also plan to test out enclosed, European-style collection bins for residential trash in West Harlem this fall.
Joshua Goodman, a sanitation department spokesperson, said businesses’ trash cans will be required to be brought back from the curb after they’re emptied, even if they’re closed. The cans will not block sidewalk space because they will replace existing garbage piles, Goodman added.
“These containers will go in the exact same location where disgusting bags of trash go now,” Goodman said. “This isn’t taking up new sidewalk space – it is reclaiming sidewalk space, fighting the smells and the rats. Blocking the sidewalk is already illegal, and a business that does so will be ticketed. This change is good for pedestrians.”
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new york city
Politics
sanitation
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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