DSNY Proposed Rule Relating to Entities Engaging in Cleaning Services

Online comments: 19

• Dale Aucoin

  In a perfect world, this new law makes sense because it prevents bags of trash from sitting on street corners and next to garbage cans. Unfortunately this is going to make it much more difficult, if not impossible, for local neighborhood cleanup groups to keep the sidewalks, gutters, and storm drains of NYC clear of trash. Because the city doesn’t have the resources to keep our streets clean, this job falls on the shoulders of building owners/maintenance people, some of whom do decent jobs, but many do not. Community cleanup groups like the Litter Legion in Hell’s Kitchen are there to fill in the gaps. These small groups don’t have bins of their own and therefore need to leave bags of trash next to street bins. Essentially the city is going to kill these community groups by enacting this law, leading to more trash on the streets, and more rats on the streets.

  The city should be making laws that make it easier for people to keep the streets clean not harder. It’s much better to have trash in a bag next to a trash can, than blowing around the streets, and ending up in storm drains. That’s common sense IMHO.

  Comment added December 30, 2024 4:41pm

• Iris Lentjes

  I’ve been part of the volunteer driven organization Jackson Heights Beautification Group – TreeLC in Jackson Heights Queens for several years. We meet moat every Saturday mornings because we want to keep our neighborhood beautiful. While we want to mostly focus on tending to plants and trees, picking up trash from tree beds, the pavements, and the gutters in our neighborhood is a continously effort we unfortunately have to divulge much of our time on. I fully agree with the bin mandate and the war on rats. I do hope however a provisions can be made for our group within this proposed rule where we can leave black bags next to the street bins. We would put a sticker on our bag so the Sanitation department can recognize our bags. We can also report our garbage bags with 311, which we already do right now if we collect excessive amounts of trash. I hope you may reconsider and tweak this rule, because we unfortunately collect at least 3 full 60 gallon garbage bags each week filled with street trash, abandoned house hold garbage, lunches and food receptacles dumped out of cars from our gutters. This happens despite us having an ACE crew on 37th Avenue. Unfortunately, visitors and fellow neighbors do leave that much trash around. Please also note that we also collect trash from various rain gardens as part of the stewarding program DEP has in place. Should you need further data, please verify our entries on the NYC Tree Map. Our group is listed on that portal as the Jackson Heights Beautification Group. We log our cleaning and maintenance activities there most every week. So as stated, I hope you may make a provision for our group. Should you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to email me. Regards, Iris Lentjes

  Comment added December 31, 2024 8:19am

• Nicolas Marcotrigiano

  I am one of hundreds of New Yorkers who volunteers my time to clean streets and sidewalks in my community. Beyond just helping ease the constant burden of litter cleanup on local businesses and property owners, these groups provide a critical environmental and public health service that prevents litter from flowing into storm drains, causing flooding that threatens our neighbors health and well-being. What’s more, this activity is a vital source of connection and community building in a time when social isolation has caused untold harm across the city and country.

  It is unconscionable that DSNY would seek to criminalize this behavior, and I urge you in the strongest terms to change course.

  Comment added December 31, 2024 1:47pm

• Riley Wolf

  Hello,

  I am one of the many New Yorkers who participates in my neighborhood cleanup group, Community Cleanup PLG. Therefore, I am very concerned to hear this new proposal.

  While I understand the thought behind receptacles for the trash we collect, it is unrealistic for volunteer-run groups such as ours to be expected to do this, as we just do not have the access to the funds or adequate storage for these receptacles.

  Our group reports the locations of our trash bag drop-offs to 311 after each cleanup event, so DSNY can pick up and dispose of them. While it may take some time for the bags to be picked up, which leads to
  the concern of attracting rats and other pests, there would be a higher risk for pests throughout the community if this trash was left scattered everywhere.

  This may not have been the intention of the proposal, but to us, it seeks to penalize groups assisting the city in keeping itself clean, and therefore may snuff them out. These groups have purpose beyond just picking up litter; they keep storm drains free of clutter that therefore leads to less flooding, help to prevent the pollution of our water via chemicals from litter, and provide invaluable community. I would not have much of the community I have today if it were not for my neighborhood group.

  I urge you to reconsider and work with groups like ours to come up with a realistic solution. Thank you.

  Comment added January 1, 2025 2:11pm

• Teru Kuwayama

  The city should accommodate trash collection and drop off by individuals and civic groups. It’s understandable that we don’t want commercial or industrial actors to circumvent their responsibilities by using public trash receptacles, but extending a prohibition to “any entity” (which could include community groups or private citizens who take the initiative to clear trash from streets or parks etc) is counterproductive.

  Comment added January 2, 2025 9:47am

• Sarah Schuster

  Community groups that help keep our streets clean needs to place trash bags near public trash cans. Otherwise, we have no where else to dispose them. This is only hurting people who want to keep their communities clean by attempted to dispose trash that is otherwise on the floor.

  Alternatively: Add more/bigger public trashcans so we can properly dispose the trash in our neighborhood. The trash to trashcan ratio isn’t working if this is such a big problem. Thank you!

  Comment added January 2, 2025 7:12pm

• Kristin Eley

  I co-lead Community Cleanup PLG, and we love our weekly pickups. In addition to cleaning up the neighborhood’s never-ending trash, we have formed a meaningful neighborhood third place for folks. I don’t think the issue is folks picking up trash… I think the issue is not enough trash cans! Put one at every corner, and we’d be able to plop our bags into the bins. Thanks!

  Comment added January 3, 2025 3:59pm

• Tessaria

  Please talk more with community groups before signing something like this into law. You tell us what not to do, but you don’t provide a clear alternative. Community cleanup groups are part of the solution, work with us!

  Comment added January 3, 2025 5:59pm

• Shannon Donohue

  As one of the many local volunteers committed to keeping NYC neighborhoods clean, I understand the importance of reducing litter and its associated risks wherever possible. However, this proposal would likely exacerbate street litter by making it impossible for volunteer groups to operate. Many neighborhoods, including ours, rely on the community-led volunteer groups mentioned in these comments to address gaps in city resourcing and keep streets clean. The groups also foster a shared sense of pride and responsibility in the neighborhood. I urge the city to support community cleanliness by empowering residents to contribute to a more beautiful and sustainable city, rather than taking away their ability to contribute by enacting this proposal.

  Comment added January 4, 2025 5:41pm

• Amanda Melhuish

  This rule is sadly poorly considered, given the reliance of many neighborhoods on the work of local community clean-up groups to gather trash. Unless there is a plan to make their work unneeded with a huge investment in sanitation tidying litter themselves OR a plan to provide compliant receptacles to these groups, this will essentially criminalize and discourage community clean-up. No one likes leaving bags of trash on the street — perhaps table this rule until investing in citywide containerization plan that wisely repurposes public street space for this goal. Volunteer groups are doing their best to fill in the gaps created by policy failures and mismanagement of funding by city government. Work with them when developing these rules!

  Comment added January 7, 2025 6:23pm

• Amy Guo

  The language of the rule presented here would deprive many neighborhoods from the community cleanup they rely upon to keep their areas safe and clean. Criminalizing these groups would ultimately lead to more waste, bugs, and mice on the streets, not less; and eliminate a valuable point of social connection in a time of increasing isolation.

  Comment added January 18, 2025 6:31am

• Stephanie Joseph

  Trash is such a huge problem in our neighborhoods. Please don’t make it more difficult for citizens volunteering to clean our streets by implementing this new rule. It’s truly disheartening that so many people in our city don’t feel the responsibility to clean up after themselves. Our local cleanup groups are a ray of hope for cleaner community.

  Comment added January 18, 2025 8:59am

• Kathleen Nolan

  Why on earth are you discouraging neighborhoods from taking pride in keeping their neighborhoods clean and filling the gaps in the DSNY? This is a ridiculous idea. Community organizations in their various forms should not be threatened for helping government look successful. Instead of encouraging these groups to hire private garbage entities, DSNY should be encouraged that people are even picking up trash to begin with. Why can’t DSNY provide trash bins to organizations? Why can’t they just have more garbage bins in general? Why can’t they hire a community outreach person to coordinate extra trash pick ups with these groups? Carrot or stick. It’s ridiculous to go stick first for community organizations focused on IMPROVING the spaces around them.

  Comment added January 18, 2025 10:02am

• Maura FitzGerald

  In communities where DSNY refuses to put sufficient numbers of garbage bins for public use, we rely on public community cleanups to keep the neighborhood looking good. There needs to be an exception made for street litter cleanup, which is done in bags, and placed next to bins for pickup.

  Comment added January 18, 2025 10:26am

• Leticia Aliaga

  Hello DSNY!! This new proposed rule is an impediment and deterrent to citizens like myself that take it up to clean up our communities.
  We are a vital resource for the DSNY and for our neighborhoods (especially those marginalized and not properly funded). Daily clean ups by community groups lead the efforts in keeping Bushwick clean. Your proposal will make the clean up process more complicated.
  And let’s be honest…. You all ain’t gonna clean our neighborhood so please consider the implications of this rule.
  Thank you for taking the time to read my suggestion.

  Comment added January 18, 2025 11:21am

• Larry Weissman

  The DSNY has removed public trash bins throughout my neighborhood in Kensington, Brooklyn (and elsewhere across the city), causing an intolerable increase in litter and refuse throughout the area. The result has forced community groups to organize neighborhood clean ups, collecting trash from sidewalks and gutters, leaving the bags adjacent to the few remaining public trash bins for pickup by DSNY. Either they can take away the street trash that taxpayers have collected or add more public bins throughout the district; to do anything else is shirking their mandate and responsibility to the citizens of New York City

  Comment added January 18, 2025 1:32pm

• Annika Leybold

  Dear DSNY,
  I’m a resident of Brooklyn deeply disturbed by the implications of this rule change. As someone who cares about my community and enjoys participating in neighbor-led community cleanups, I’m appalled that the city is now targeting, to the point of criminalization, the neighborly actions of helping to clean up our streets and parks. Given DSNY’s valid, but ultimately under-resourced efforts to keep our city beautiful, it is often up to everyday people to clean up our own communities. With increased flooding due to climate change, and the serious issues of sewers being clogged by trash in rain gutters, flexible and fast community efforts become all the more important. In a sane system, this would be encouraged and supported by city structures. Instead, we are witnessing a backlash against civic behavior. It’s impossible not to see a pattern here that began with DSNY’s increased cruelty and frequency in destroying unhoused people’s camps that began a couple years ago. The copification of the department of sanitation, arresting and destroying the lives of marginalized people, in the name of “clean streets” should be seen by all as a step toward fascism. We will not stand for it. Please stop this rule change.
  Sincerely,
  Annika Leybold

  Comment added January 18, 2025 2:52pm

• Johanna Mosenthal

  I am writing to express my opposition to the proposed new rule regarding trash bags on the curb. This rule will negatively impact neighborhood and community clean up groups who help the city bridge the gap between what DSNY is able to provide in terms of cleaning parks and sidewalks and public spaces, and what community members want and can do themselves. I have volunteered many times cleaning up parts of my community, most often through the community group Clean Up Crown Heights, and received many thank yous from neighbors. Not being allowed to place the filled and tied bags of litter next to the trash cans on the curb makes it much more difficult for groups to organize clean ups and dispose of the litter. How is it better to have litter all over the street than to have it tied up in one bag on the corner? The law should be rewritten to clarify that it’s about not dumping household trash.

  Comment added January 18, 2025 3:13pm

• Jaelynn

  There are not enough trash cans and too many people who litter. Everyday Let us clean up our own communities.

  Comment added January 18, 2025 5:14pm