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NYC says rats are on the run as trash rules kick in and bins pile up
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Aug 20, 2025
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Courtesy Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Aug 20, 2025
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The city says rat sightings are going down each month, trash is disappearing from roadways and more New Yorkers are placing their garbage in city-approved containers.
Mayor Eric Adams said it all adds up to a turning point in his effort to shrink the city’s rodent population. He’s dubbed the citywide push to move garbage from sidewalk trash bags into rat-resistant bins the “trash revolution.”
From last year’s inaugural Rat Summit to experimental tactics like pumping carbon monoxide into rat burrows, Adams has been trying new methods to tackle the problem.
On Tuesday, he pointed to several milestones: 311 rat complaints have fallen for eight straight months, sanitation crews have cleared more than 15 million pounds of litter from highway shoulders and medians, and residents have already ordered or purchased nearly 900,000 official NYC Bins — well ahead of new containerization rules that take effect next summer.
"The only revolution I want to see in our streets is the actual trash revolution: How do you go away from big cities believing that you must live in trash and filth and with rats?" Adams said during a press conference. "We have shown that that is not a reality and not something that we have to settle for."
Adams said the next steps are expanding participation in the city’s container program and getting more New Yorkers to sign up for “Rat Academy,” the city’s education campaign on rodent prevention.
“When we declared that trash and filth would no longer be normalized, many doubted it could be done,” Adams said. “But we took bold, immediate action and are proving the doubters wrong.”
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Politics
new york city
sanitation
Giulia Heyward
Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.
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