In 2023 residents and businesses in the Big Apple will only be able to take out the garbage after 8:00 p.m.

Photo: Michael Appleton/NYC Mayoral Office

For years the urban images of the Big Apple, in addition to its imposing skyscrapers, also include streets criss-crossed with mountains of garbage bags and rats roaming everywhere.

After decades of announcements and clean-up attempts, the current Municipal Administration proposes a strategy that forces residents and business owners to “take out their waste”, only after eight at night. And never again, after four in the afternoon, like today.

The Department of Sanitation (DSNY) raised the idea of ​​changing the schedules in which the garbage reaches the sidewalks, with the criterion that the waste should not be outside for long periods of time, to prevent the rodents have plenty of time to smell and chase them.

The measure, which has already started the cycle of public consultations, would formally enter into force on April 1, 2023.

During the announcement this Monday, the DSNY Commissioner Jessica Tisch He explained that to carry out the plan “there are many parties with different interests at the table, but a victory was achieved for millions of New Yorkers, who deserve a cleanest and most welcoming city”.

The program, in addition to including a drastic change in the collection schedules, seeks that during the “peak hours” of traffic and pedestrians, which are calculated to be every day at five in the afternoon, New Yorkers and visitors do not have to dodge garbage and recycling bags on the streets.

“For far too long it’s been one of the most terrifying images of New York. But today we say that enough is enough, by making a change expected by generations, which will have a real impact on cleaning our streets”, Mayor Eric Adams considered.

The city of New York with its million residential and commercial buildings, 4,500 skyscrapers, more than 25,000 restaurants and a hectic commercial life, is also the city that more garbage produced worldwide.

rats like never

The changes in waste disposal in the Big Apple are announced in a year in which many neighborhoods in the five boroughs have denounced be “invaded” by rats.

Last year, complaints of sightings of these vermin increased by more than two-thirds compared to the same period in 2019. That trend has continued this year: the first months of 2022 the highest number of complaints were reported to 311 by the presence of undesirable and feared animals, in at least 10 years.

Most rat complaints are historically recorded in parts of Brooklyn, Upper and Lower Manhattan, and the Bronx.

“By drastically reducing the amount of time black bags can sit on our sidewalk, we are not only catching up with other cities, but outperforming them. We will not allow the New Yorkers are infested with ratswe are going to keep our city absolutely clean”, remarked the municipal president.

a local law

Since the 1970s, the well-known regime of black bags in the streets after 4:00 pm has been in force in the Big Apple, after residential incinerators were prohibited.

The new rules will be based largely on local legislation led by the Councilman of Dominican origin, Shaun Abreu, from District 7.

“My bill and associated regulation will make our streets cleaner and deprive rats of the midnight snacks that sustain their explosive growth. Years from now we will all look back and wonder why we let waste rot on our streets for hours on end”, highlighted the legislator.

Details of the new rules:

• In residential buildings you would have the option of take out the garbage after 6:00 pm. only if they have containers with special lids. In addition, place the closed garbage bags directly on the sidewalk, only after 8:00 p.m.
• This announcement also includes new clarified rules for commercial establishments, which are not served by DSNY, but by private waste carriers.
• Companies can participate in one of the following options: Take out the garbage after 8:00 pm if you place the bags directly on the curb, or an hour before if they have a secure container.

The data:

12,000 tons of garbage and material recycled materials are processed daily in the Big Apple.