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Push to ban trash bag piles from NYC sidewalks in limbo as mayoral election looms
By
Liam Quigley
Published Apr 22, 2025
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Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
By
Liam Quigley
Published Apr 22, 2025
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The future of Mayor Eric Adams’ “trash revolution” — which centers around getting piles of trash bags off city sidewalks and into containers — is as uncertain as the outcome of this year’s mayoral election.
The initiative has been the most notable policy push by the sanitation department since Adams took office in 2022. Since then, the city has mandated businesses as well as residential buildings with fewer than 10 units to put their trash out to the curb in bins.
But the push to require larger residential buildings — those with 10 or more units — to use garbage bins still hangs in the balance. Sanitation officials have said containerizing that garbage will in many cases require the installation of large bins in parking spaces. It's a piece of the “trash revolution” rollout that's not expected to be ready for years and one that will be overseen by whoever wins this year’s mayor’s race.
The idea of banning trash bag mountains from city sidewalks is widely popular. Nearly all the Democratic primary candidates in this year’s mayoral race said they support the plan and would continue its implementation.
But there was one notable exception: former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who polls show is the frontrunner in the race. His campaign declined to respond to multiple requests for comment on the topic.
New Yorkers in Upper Manhattan can now get a preview of what a universal garbage bin mandate could look like. Earlier this month, the sanitation department began to deploy the first of its Spanish-made “Empire Bins” in areas of West Harlem and Morningside Heights.
Those bins are designed to be emptied by modern garbage trucks with lifts that can hoist them from the side, instead of their rear, which sanitation officials said is necessary to make trash containerization work at scale.
Steven Cohen, a professor at Columbia University who has worked on environmental policy at the local and federal level since the late 1970s, said purchasing new trucks to handle the new bins is one of the biggest hurdles for containerization.
”I think if the next mayor wants to do it, it can get done,” Cohen said. “I think the issues really are the capital expenditure for the new trucks, which will be considerable and will take years to replace the old ones.”
The city sanitation department hopes to ban trash bag piles from sidewalks.
Liam Quigley
The sanitation department has tested several models of large trash containers on streets in Upper Manhattan as part of a pilot program that launched in 2023. And officials said it’s shown signs of success, crediting the program for a reduction in rat sightings in the area.
“ There were definitely times where I was nervous about this,” said Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who represents the pilot area. “Now we're at a point now where my constituents know why we're doing it. New Yorkers across the city know why we're doing it.”
“ I think it's one of the things that he [the mayor] actually got right,” he added.
Cliff Dickens, who works as a super at several buildings in West Harlem, said he was eager to see more of the new bins in his neighborhood. The new Empire Bins can only be opened with city-issued keycards issued to building staffers like him.
“This is better,” said Dickens, 64. “It is less rats and it is more convenient for the supers.”
A representative for Adams’ campaign said the mayor plans to continue to program if he’s reelected and argued he has done more to get trash off the streets than any of his predecessors.
“No one has done more to remove trash,” Adams campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro said in a text message. “Our goal is to continue the movement without over burdening working class people.”
Sanitation officials have been careful to frame the prospect of placing large garbage containers in parking spaces as a simple reallocation of public real estate. Department spokesperson Joshua Goodman said the bins would take about 3% of curb space if they were to be rolled out citywide, calling it, “a very small price to pay to get the trash off the sidewalks and defeat the rats once and for all.”
Still, the debate over parking is slated to be central to the next phase of containerizing the city’s trash. And to prevent a future mayor from scuttling the initiative, a group of City Council members introduced legislation in November to codify its rollout into law.
The bill’s main sponsor, Councilmember Crystal Hudson from Brooklyn, said she hopes to pass the measure before the mayoral election is over.
“ Everyone else is in the 21st century when it comes to trash receptacles and sanitation services,” she said. “And we're still stuck in the 20th century. So it's about time.”
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new york city
Politics
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
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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