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Pilot Program for the Use of Stationary On-Street Containers

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Rule status: Adopted

Agency: DSNY

Effective date: December 15, 2024

Proposed Rule Full Text
DSNY-Proposed-Rules-Relating-to-Pilot-Program-for-Use-of-Stationary-On-Street-Containers.pdf

Adopted Rule Full Text
DSNY-FINAL-Rule-Relating-to-Pilot-Program-for-Use-of-Stationary-On-Street-Containers.pdf

Adopted rule summary:

This adopted rule sets the framework for the Department of Sanitation’s application of trash containerization requirements to residential buildings with 10 or more units, starting with a limited pilot program. This rule designates Manhattan Community District 9, encompassing West Harlem, which also includes the neighborhoods of Hamilton Heights, Manhattanville, and Morningside Heights, as the first area in which to pilot these requirements, with an implementation date of June 1, 2025 and end date of May 31, 2026

Comments are now closed.

Online comments: 7

  • Richard Savino

    1)Does the building purchase these containers?
    2) What about buildings to 100+ units?

    Comment added October 15, 2024 10:51am

  • Emma Lopez

    Do we need to have a container on each of the tenants’ units?
    Will the tenant be responsible to purchase the container?

    Comment added October 16, 2024 9:54am

  • Nick Frost

    This seems like a well thought-through proposal. I’m looking forward to living in a city that doesn’t put bags of rat food on the sidewalk.

    Comment added November 3, 2024 9:01pm

  • Miles Nelligan

    The quantity and size of the containers have a high impact on the streetscape, placing this many permanent large scale garbage receptacles along the street, makes them the most noticeable feature of the street since they are higher than the cars. They frequently have garbage that “missed” the container around them and the lids are frequently not closed.
    I have seen this type of arrangement in Europe, but never this amount of containers. They take over the street more than bags did.

    Comment added November 6, 2024 12:27pm

  • Bennett

    I support the proposed rule and hope you’ll quickly expand to the rest of the city.

    Comment added November 12, 2024 9:55am

  • Michael Sutherland (Open Plans)

    Open Plans writes today in regard to the on-street containerized trash pilot. We have consistently advocated for on-street containerized trash in New York City, and are excited at this first step to bring such a program to life. This pilot serves as a great foundation, and we believe it can be improved by leveraging the opportunity to also pilot shared containers between smaller buildings. Further comments are in the attached testimony.

    Comment attachment
    Open-Plans-Testimony-on-11-12-24-DSNY-Rules-Hearing.pdf
    Comment added November 12, 2024 2:59pm

  • Clare Miflin

    The Center for Zero Waste Design is a nonprofit that develops research, advocacy campaigns, and policy tools for buildings and cities to achieve zero waste. We recently released a new report titled On Containerization [see our website] with recommendations to containerize waste as New York City explores new sanitation practices such as commercial waste zoning and mandatory bins for commercial and residential buildings citywide. We have been advocating for waste containerization since releasing the Zero Waste Design Guidelines, and provided strategies to containerize in our advocacy campaign, Put Waste To Work, which was produced in collaboration with WXY Studio.

    Additionally, we would like to submit the following comments:

    Pilots are useful for testing and evaluating strategies. There need to be clear aims, and evaluation criteria. After the pilot an evaluation report should be done and shared with the public
    The only information shared about the previous Hamilton Heights waste containerization pilot was a decrease in 311 rat complaints.

    Criteria we think should be evaluated in any containerization pilot:
    Waste related:
    Diversion rates: How did a trash-only pilot affect the quantities of recycling and compostable waste collected?
    Labor for buildings to use and maintain containers
    Capacity of containers – were they under / oversized?
    Costs of collection by DSNY
    Public Space concerns:
    Sidewalk litter
    Rat activity – beyond 311 complaints, actual analysis.
    Illegal dumping
    Were there still bins staged on sidewalks for resident use?
    Amount of public space used – street / sidewalk
    Truck impacts – time taken, noise, frequency
    Stakeholder concerns:
    Resident concerns
    Building management concerns
    DSNY labor concerns
    Canner concerns
    Equity concerns
    Were underresourced buildings more or less successful in implementing?
    Costs to buildings

    The regulation for this pilot should include the following:
    Clear statement about what is being tested, e.g., diversion, logistics, operations, etc.
    Clear guidance re the evaluation protocols, including both quantitative and qualitative methods
    Clear guidance about issuing interim and final reports, including timetable/deadlines.
    Clear statement about who is involved with the pilot’s oversight and monitoring – both public and non-public stakeholders.

    Comment attachment
    241112-Hearing-on-Pilot-Program-for-the-Use-of-Stationary-On-Street-Containers.pdf
    Comment added November 12, 2024 5:20pm