Implementation Dates for Brooklyn East Manhattan Northeast Queens West and Manhattan West CWZ

Effective date: October 16, 2026

Printable Version of Proposed Rule Text
DSNY-Proposed-Implementation-Dates-re-Brooklyn-East-Manhattan-Northeast-Queens-West-and-Manhattan-West-CWZ-Final.pdf

Printable Version of Adopted Rule Text
DSNY-Final-Rule-re-Implementation-Dates-re-Brooklyn-East-Manhattan-Northeast-Queens-West-and-Manhattan-West-CWZ-_Final.pdf

Adopted rule summary:

In 2019, New York City enacted Local Law 199 requiring the establishment of a new program for the collection of commercial waste. The program, known as the Commercial Waste Zones (CWZ) program, is a safe, efficient, and competitive collection system designed to provide high-quality service to New York City businesses while advancing the City’s waste diversion and sustainability goals. Pursuant to Local Law 199 of 2019, codified in Title 16-B of the New York City Administrative Code, the geographic area of New York City has been divided into 20 CWZs. Pursuant to a request for proposals process, three private carters providing commercial waste collection services were selected by the Department to serve businesses within each CWZ, and five carters were selected to provide citywide containerized commercial waste collection services to businesses that use dumpsters and compactors. The selected carters are referred to as “awardees.” The resulting contracts with the awardees include standards for pricing, customer service, safety, environmental health, and requirements to promote the City’s commitment to recycling and sustainability. Local Law 199 of 2019 requires the Department to issue rules setting forth an implementation start date and a final implementation date for each CWZ established. See Ad. Code § 16-1002(e)(3). Different implementation start and end dates may be established for different CWZs. The Department previously set the implementation start and end dates for the first ten CWZs: Queens Central, Bronx East, Bronx West, Queens Northeast, Brooklyn South, Lower Manhattan, Midtown South, Staten Island, Brooklyn North, and Upper Manhattan. This rule sets the implementation start date and final implementation date for the next four zones: Brooklyn East, Manhattan Northeast, Queens West, and Manhattan West. Subsequent rules will set the implementation dates for the remaining six zones. Local Law 199 of 2019 also prohibits awardees from refusing commercial waste collection services to any commercial establishment required to provide for the removal of such waste within a commercial waste zone for which the awardee has been awarded an agreement with the City. See Ad Code § 16-1005(a)(2). Section 20-22(a)(2) of the Rules of the City of New York provides that awardees must offer such commercial establishments the following levels of service per week: at least two days of refuse collection, one day of designated recyclable materials collection, and, if the commercial establishment is a designated covered commercial establishment, at least one day of source separated organics collection. The Department received complaints from customers who were unable to contract with awardees for service below these levels of service. This amendment clarifies that these service levels constitute a default level of service and do not preclude an awardee from providing less frequent service to an establishment that requests less frequent service and that an awardee may not deny, suspend, or terminate service to an establishment that need less frequent service than the default level of service provided for in such Section 20-22(a)(2). DSNY’s authority for these rules is found in Section 753 and Section 1043(g) of the New York City Charter and Title 16-B of the New York City Administrative Code. The Department received one written comment in support of the proposed rule and two written comments about unrelated issues. The comments did not lead to any changes in the rule.