NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- Mayor Eric Adams announced orders Monday requiring New Yorkers to put their trash curbside four hours later going forward to fight a growing number of rats.
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The plan—proposed by the Sanitation Department and endorsed by the Adams administration—would require residents to place their trash at the curb between 8 p.m. and 12 a.m. the night before collection. The current window is 4 p.m. to 12 a.m.
The new rules will apply to both residential and commercial locations. Under the plan, a public hearing would be held in November before the requirements take effect on April 1, 2023.
The plan would allow residential trash bins with rat-resistant lids to be put out two hours before the new 8 p.m. start time. Commercial trash bins with rat-resistant lids could be put out one hour before 8 p.m.
If a building has nine or more residential units, the property owner may opt for a 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. set-out window on the day of pickup if it helps with staffing schedules. That’s after the 32BJ SEIU union, which represent building service workers, struck a deal with the city.
Officials hope the plan will cut down on the number of rats descending on piles of garbage amid rising trash and rat complaints.
“Rat sightings are through the roof,” City Council Member Shaun Abreu told the New York Times, adding that some kids are afraid to go outside during school recess because of the rodents.
Adams announced the plan outside City Hall on Monday afternoon.
“Bags of trash sitting on the curb for hours have hurt our city’s recovery for too long and is one of the most indelible images of New York, but, today, we’re saying enough is enough by making a generations-overdue change that will have a real impact on the cleanliness of our streets,” Adams said in a statement.
“By drastically reducing the amount of time that black bags can sit on our curb, we’re not just catching up with other cities but surpassing them and leading the nation again. This announcement will keep our streets clean, it will discourage rats from running their own version of Open Restaurants, and it will mean no more tripping over black garbage bags at rush hour. We’re not going to let New Yorkers be plagued by rats — we’re going to keep our city squeaky clean,” the mayor said.
New York City’s current start time of 4 p.m. is the earliest of any major U.S. city and allows some trash to sit around for 12 hours or more before it’s collected by a sanitation crew.
Sanitation commissioner Jessica Tisch told the Times that the city's festering trash bags are an “all-you-can-eat buffet for rats.”
“If the bags are sitting out there for 14 hours, that is a long buffet, and we want to shut it down,” Tisch said.
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