NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — The NYC Department of Sanitation is trying something new to combat the Labor Day weekend trash pile-up: utilizing volunteers, the New York Times reported.
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Residential trash pick-up will be suspended on Sunday and Monday in observance of the holiday which usually means New Yorkers have to prepare for smelly sidewalks and garbage bag mountains. Known as the “holiday chase,” normally, DSNY puts extra workers on collection routes to help clear the trash.
This year, the city is set to schedule residential trash collection on Labor Day for the first time in recent memory, but the workers will be from a pool of Sanitation Department volunteers.
Having the trash removed on Labor Day comes after an uptick in 311 calls about dirty sidewalks. Through Aug. 28, 311 received 25,754 complaints about garbage, an increase of 23 percent from 2021.
The issue has been one Mayor Adams has been vocal about and focused on tackling. Adams negotiated with the New York City Council to put $22 million toward emptying corner trash baskets more frequently and $7.5 million to target problematic litter spots. Another $4.5 million went toward cleaning vacant lots.
Other tactics are being utilized too, like experimenting with trash containerization and reinstating twice-a-week street cleaning in some neighborhoods.
The Labor Day volunteer collectors will serve as a trial run to see if the protocol can be adopted for all Monday federal holidays moving forward. The city’s goal is to have 800 sanitation worker volunteers, who will paid overtime, out of the over 6,000 trash collectors. The initiative will also depend on residents actually putting their trash out on Labor Day.
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