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NYC Council ensures trash revolution will continue after Mayor Adams leaves office
By
Liam Quigley
Published Nov 15, 2025
Modified Nov 18, 2025
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Liam Quigley
By
Liam Quigley
Published Nov 15, 2025
Modified Nov 18, 2025
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The City Council has passed legislation that will force Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to follow through with the most contentious phase of the war on rats: replacing parking spots with large trash bins.
The so-called “RAT” act, which the Council passed on Thursday, requires all buildings with 31 or more units to use on-street bins to dispose of residential waste. Buildings with 10 to 30 units can choose to use the large bins or set out waste in smaller containers.
Earlier this year, the sanitation department wrote that the rollout of the on-street bins may take seven years due to protracted fights over parking. The new legislation follows that timeline, giving the city until 2032 to install the bins throughout the five boroughs.
Mamdani has said he supports the policy — and suggested going even further by installing additional on-street bins for recycling.
The bins are currently on streets in Upper Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. Residents said the large plastic containers, which are serviced by special side-loading garbage trucks and can only be opened by building supers and sanitation workers, have led to a reduction in rat sightings.
Councilmember Crystal Hudson sponsored the legislation expanding the bins citywide.
The bins were first rolled out uptown in neighborhoods represented by Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who praised Mayor Eric Adams and Jessica Tisch, the former sanitation commissioner turned police commissioner.
“Mayors before him weren't able to get it done. But it also took the very aggressive leadership of Commissioner [Jessica] Tisch and the Council’s partnership to get this done,” Abreu said.
The bins landed in Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene and Brooklyn Heights last month.
The bill authorizes the sanitation department to charge landlords a fee of $55 per apartment to cover the cost of the bins, though there are exemptions.
Moving trash into containers to reduce rats has been one of Adams’ signature achievements in City Hall.
Abreu said that Mamdani told him months before the general election that he’d like to keep Adams’ war on rats going once he takes over.
“I think Mayor Mamdani understands the need for a modern city. You know, his fresh leadership also means that he's likely to bring fresh ideas or at least ideas that are foreign to New Yorkers,” Abreu said.
The sanitation department says it needs to complete an environmental review before the on-street “Empire Bins” can be used in every neighborhood of the city.
“This is the bill that is necessary to bring containerization citywide,” sanitation department spokesperson Joshua Goodman said. “This shows a real commitment to moving this forward.”
Buildings with loading docks won’t be required to use the on-street bins.
“Once you get this going, it ramps up in speed,” Goodman said.
Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified the lawmaker who sponsored the legislation to expand bins citywide. It was sponsored by Councilmember Crystal Hudson.
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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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