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NYC's push to get trash in bins may take 7 years due to parking concerns, report says
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 18, 2025
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Liam Quigley / Gothamist
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 18, 2025
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Mayor Eric Adams’ vision to eliminate the notorious piles of trash on New York City’s sidewalks may not be fully realized for another seven years, according to documents published by the sanitation department on Wednesday.
The protracted timeline was included in a notice by the city to conduct an environmental review on a plan to install large trash containers in parking spaces across the five boroughs. The sanitation department aims to require every building with 30 or more units to dump their garbage into those bins rather than stack trash bags on the curb.
The notice states the full rollout isn’t expected to be finished until June 2032, which some experts said highlights the city’s onerous bureaucracy as well as a lack of political will by Adams to take away street parking.
“The city is being overly cautious, overly slow,” said transportation consultant Sam Schwartz, who served as the city’s traffic commissioner in the 1980s. “If we lose a few parking spots per block, so be it. New York City could get by with a few fewer cars.”
The notice says a drawn-out environmental impact statement is necessary because the new bins “may affect socioeconomic conditions due to the placement of stationary on-street containers in the parking lane.”
Sanitation department spokesperson Joshua Goodman said the rollout could be finished sooner than 2032. He argued that an environmental impact study is required to install the bins, but also said the city already has the legal authority to put garbage containers in parking spaces.
Over the last three years, the sanitation department has made big strides in executing what Adams calls a “trash revolution.”
All businesses and residential buildings with nine or fewer units are now required to put out their trash in secured bins, which officials said has helped reduce rat populations by eliminating a key food source for the rodents.
The on-street bins have already been deployed in parking spaces in Harlem through a pilot program that the sanitation department plans to expand to sections of Brooklyn over the next year.
In 2022, the Adams administration hired the consulting firm McKinsey to study how the city could containerize all its garbage. The timeline included in Wednesday’s notice means the plan to get rid of sidewalk trash mountains could take a full decade to realize — largely due to concerns over removing street parking.
“People in New York City value parking spots as if they're gold,” Schwartz said. "They do whatever they can to secure the best parking spot. Even Seinfeld had a whole episode about the greatest parking spot ever. People will go to the wall to fight for it.”
Tagged
Politics
new york city
sanitation
transportation
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
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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