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New era of commercial trash collection begins in Queens next week
By
Liam Quigley
Published Dec 26, 2024
Modified Dec 26, 2024
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Liam Quigley
By
Liam Quigley
Published Dec 26, 2024
Modified Dec 26, 2024
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After years of stops and starts, safety reforms are finally coming to New York City’s notoriously dangerous private trash collection industry.
On Jan. 2, businesses in a section of central Queens may only have their trash picked up by one of three companies selected by the sanitation department.
It’s the first of the city’s 20 “commercial waste zones,” which were established through City Council legislation passed in 2019. The new rules are intended to eliminate the circuitous routes taken by many private garbage trucks across several boroughs, which sanitation officials say leads to dangerous working conditions and more crashes. A report by the city found that 43 New Yorkers were killed in crashes involving the commercial waste industry between 2010 and 2019.
The zone reform has created fierce competition among salespeople for private trash haulers trying to sign up businesses from Ridgewood.
Sanitation officials have been waking the same beat as the salespeople, knocking on around 9,000 doors across the new zone and warning business owners that they’ll need to choose a new company to take away their trash or have one chosen for them. Businesses that don’t choose a carter in time will end up paying the maximum allowable rate since they won’t be able to negotiate with a waste hauler, said sanitation department spokesperson Joshua Goodman.
“This will mean cleaner, safer streets — but businesses must do their part by registering a new contract soon, or risk paying more,” he said.
The new trash collection zone is the long-awaited implementation of a plan that advocates have demanded for years. But even as the reform enters a new phase, the commercial waste industry remains dangerous. The advocacy group Transform Don’t Trash NYC found that safety violations persist among the companies that won rights to bring their garbage trucks to the new zones.
In May, a driver for private waste hauler Liberty Ashes – which was awarded one of the zones – drove backward down a street in Greenwich Village, killing a 35-year-old man. The driver was not arrested, according to police.
David Biderman, who works as a safety consultant for private carting companies, said that the industry has become increasingly focused on safety following the passage of the reforms in 2019.
“As someone who’s done safety training for a dozen awardees, I can tell you that there is a newfound focus on worker safety and street safety,” he said.
“ I believe that [commercial waste zones] will continue the significant safety improvements that the carters have seen over the past several years. The key goals are to reduce vehicle miles traveled, which means less emissions, less trucks on the street.”
There’s no exact timeline for the rollout of the rest of the commercial waste zone system, but sanitation officials say the lessons of the Queens Central rollout to fine-tune the process.
Council member Shaun Abreu, who chairs the council sanitation committee, said that it’s important for the sanitation department to implement the rollout quickly and efficiently.
”We are going to hold the administration accountable and make sure that they move as fast as possible, but also in a way that won't compromise the success of this program,” he said.
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Shaun Abreu's last name.
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queens
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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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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