Use of Certain Receptacles by Certain Entities that Receive Department Collection Service

Online comments: 130

• Katherine Hanner

  I applaud the requirement that DSNY require that these receptacles have “tight fitting lids”. However the regs need to state that the lid must be secured and tight fitting when placed at the curb. Currently I see many buildings and commercial establishments placing receptacles on the street but lids are not closed since trash is overflowing. When placed like this, vermin (rats!) can easily enter them. Please edit the regs!

  Comment added July 11, 2024 8:16am

• LesC

  It’s against the law to monopolize buying trash cans from one place. You will need to reimburse the trash cans that we just bought because the new law that was enacted by sanitation in 2023, trash cans requiring a lid. These new cans should free or allow us to exchange our cans for the new cans.

  Comment added July 21, 2024 11:39am

• IR

  I’m supportive of any program that gets us out of the current situtation of trash bags on curbs and rodent buffets. However, I oppose a new government endorsed monopoly. Why aren’t we allowing and encouraging competition?

  From a rent stabilized housing providers perspective, this is also a new cost that our too low rents cannot cover. Why do we keep adding expenses but then not allowing for adjusting rents to cover them?

  Comment added July 21, 2024 8:11pm

• GSKP

  I manage an IMD building that has 3 residential units. The total monthly rent from these units is $576.98 as 2 units are not paying their rent. The City continues to burden small property owners without consideration. Decisions that are destroying the ability for anyone who is trying to hold on during this extremely difficult environment. The garbage and rat problem is not resulting from small property owners, clean up has to be done by businesses such as restaurants not small property owners that are barely getting by. My building garbage is taken out at 6am in trash bags instead of bins as people use the bins as public trash cans as they pass by and we have had issues with homeless people going through the garbage. It would be a burden to be forced to put bins out as then small building owners would have to pay an additional cost for the maintenance people to bring the bins in and out especially when they do not live on site. Please do not put further regulations that creates more of a hardship without solving any real problem. Thank you.

  Comment added July 21, 2024 8:19pm

• Richard Ulloa Melton

  I call that this rule is unconstitutional.

  “Based on the recent Supreme Court decision in Loper Bright Enterprises et al. v. Raimondo, the DSNY proposed rule mandating specific receptacles for refuse collection exceeds the agency’s statutory authority as granted by city sanitation laws. The statutes in question do not provide clear and unambiguous authorization for such detailed regulations. Furthermore, the broad discretion afforded to DSNY without clear legislative standards constitutes an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. Therefore, the proposed rule should be deemed unconstitutional and invalidated.”

  This argument integrates the principles from the Loper case, focusing on statutory interpretation and the limits of agency authority, to challenge the constitutionality of the DSNY’s proposed rule.

  Comment added July 22, 2024 7:44pm

• Alan M Cohen

  I have to chain my cans to the building so the homeless and addicts don’t steal them. Previously they would be stolen or removed periodically – and my video surveillance showed the perpetrators to be drug users.
  If I have to place receptacles at the curb without chains I anticipate that they will be stolen. How do you plan to deal with this issue?

  Comment added July 24, 2024 8:36am

• Deo

  It is just another way for the city to write up more violations.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 8:56am

• Carole Ferrara

  We are managing agents of smaller residential buildings in Manhattan and completely disagree that this requirement will do anything to abate problems with trash in the City. It will however cause a tremendous burden on small building owners, part time janitors and in the end result in fines for the building, stolen expensive trash containers, etc. One of the impossible hardships is that there is no area to store such bins. Smaller residential buildings do not have elevators, they do not have areas at street level for storage. The City is asking an individual to lug a container filled with trash from someplace in a building – typically the basement of a building – up a flight of steps – to the street curb. This requirement is inhuman and must be stopped immediately.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 9:05am

• MARYANNE GOURAS

  I’m all for making our city clean. As much I would like to take the garbage bins out on the eve of collection days, twom things concern me quite a bit. 1st. The empty bins will be left out until owners come home from work. Not everyone who has a 1 to 9 family home can afford a supper. 2nd. Having lived in Brooklyn almost all my life, I can’t tell you how many times our bins have been stolen, even with the address written right on them. These new bins are not cheap. We small building landlords have far too many responsibilities imposed on us by the city, Inspections for this, inspections for that, paperwork for this or the other. It never ends and now this. ENOUGH!!! Thank God we now have good tenants, because we have gone through the ringer in the past, but shouldn’t they have the responsibility to keep their children safe in their apartments? We place window guards, special knobs on the stoves, special venetian blinds, etc.I’m know I’m rambling on, but I am a bit frustrated.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 9:06am

• Johnny

  There’s so many factors here that is wrong. Firstly, the city is forcing us to buy bins sold by it’s own vendor thus creating a monopoly which is illegal. Second, we are then going to throw perfectly good bins into the dump where it does not biodegrade over time. (So much for the environment.) Thirdly, the garbage trucks don’t have lifts that can dump these bins out (which is what they really are intended for) so the sanitation workers would still have to pull the bags out by hand and toss the bins everywhere on the streets. Fourthly, now all landlords would have to pay their employees to come back in the morning to pull the bins back inside thus adding to costs when they are already struggling with higher taxes, utilities and other operating costs. (Which, will eventually trickle down to the renters as well). Lastly, homeowners who do their own trash will now have to potentially pull their bins up and down stairs to get them to the curb. For older people or people with disabilities this will be a huge challenge. These bins do not solve the rat problem. It is a cash grab for this city. Based on the number of buildings affected by this new mandate, times at minimum 3 bins per property, the city will make over $1.8 billion dollars and the rat problem will still exist at the end of the day. Take down the sidewalk sheds that harbor rats and have more timely and frequent garbage pick ups and there will be less rats.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 9:06am

• Paul Fryd

  This is a real problem for our building, a condominium with 4 units and a separately owned restaurant on the ground floor. There is no room for a receptacle in the entryway of the building. And there is noone to take out the receptacle and bring it back 3 times a week after 8 pm. Now, each unit is responsible for taking out their own garbage and placing it on the curb. The restaurant already uses receptacles, this will be a tremendous burden (and eyesore) for this building.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 9:17am

• Gary B Resnick

  This will be very difficult and costly for buildings under nine units. Most of the buildings this size, that we own and manage do NOT have live in supers. We use a company that cleans the building, and they do garbage at night. They do not return until the next garbage day (at night). So, now they would have to return to put the pails back by the building the following morning??. Who will pay for that? Some of the people we use are not available until night time. What happens when its windy and rainy? And the pails are down the block? Create heavy duty bags that have a scent that rodents avoid. This law does not work for small property owners! The 8:00PM rule is already causing a burden. Our garbage, now for multiple buildings, doesn’t get completed until 1:00AM. They clean the pails weekly. Now it’s dark, and they can’t really see the pails. The city can also use Rat bait stations on corners, by trees or on curbs. The city should inspect them and refill them. We love working with DSNY for solutions, but this is too costly and a radical decision that need to be rescinded. Every windy day will see many pails flying around in the streets!!

  Comment added July 24, 2024 9:18am

• Rena W.

  I am writing to express my concerns regarding the proposed new rule on containerization requirements for buildings with one to nine residential units, effective November 12, 2024. As a property owner managing 19 properties in the Bronx, all of which fall within the 3-6 unit range, I believe this rule will impose significant challenges and undue burdens on building owners, property managers and supers.

  One of the primary issues we face in the Bronx is the rampant theft of garbage cans. To mitigate this problem, we currently have to chain our garbage bins to the properties. The new requirement to use bins with latching lids and discontinue the use of bags will necessitate unchaining these bins for certain periods, which will inevitably lead to an increase in theft. This issue is not just an inconvenience but also a financial burden, as replacing stolen bins will incur additional costs.

  Furthermore, the lack of an on-site superintendent for smaller properties like ours means that landlords will need to hire additional staff to manage the new bin system. This will significantly increase our operational costs. Managing waste disposal effectively without an on-site superintendent is already challenging, and this new requirement will exacerbate the situation, forcing smaller property owners to allocate more resources to waste management.

  Another concern is the efficacy of the plastic bins against the city’s notorious rat problem. NYC rats are known to chew through plastic, rendering the new bins ineffective in controlling waste and pest issues. This not only undermines the purpose of the new rule but also adds to the frustration and expenses of property owners who have to deal with damaged bins and persistent pest problems.

  This proposed rule seems to be yet another onerous requirement placed on building owners without considering the practical implications and additional costs involved. A more effective policy would be to focus on increasing DSNY staffing to ensure timely and efficient waste pickup. Improved waste collection services would address many of the issues the new containerization rule aims to solve, without placing extra burdens on property owners.

  I strongly urge the Department of Sanitation to reconsider the proposed rule and explore alternative solutions that do not disproportionately impact smaller property owners. Enhancing DSNY’s capacity to manage waste more effectively would be a more balanced and practical approach.

  Thank you for considering my concerns. I look forward to a constructive dialogue on this matter.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 9:23am

• Christopher Athineos

  As part of the rat mitigation efforts, I purchased metal trash cans with lids for my 8 unit building. They were all stolen two weeks later. I re-purchased the same metal cans and chained and padlocked them to my fence. This was a considerable expense, given my rents are under $1,000 per month. I lined the cans with black bags and put out the trash after 8 pm. We have no problem with rats on my block. I urge the Dept of Sanitation to rescind this proposal because it puts an undue burden on property owners. Now you are requiring me to purchase more receptacles a third time in one year ! How will I prevent them from being stolen if all the cans on the block are the same? Who will bring the cans back in after the Sanitation Dept empties it? What happens in the winter when the cans blow into the street? The cans will end up being out all day on the street. This is typical gov’t dysfunction. The ones who create these rules, don’t own or run properties. There is a big difference between theory and reality. Please re-consider.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 9:31am

• Susan Corradi

  This is totally ridiculous. What about the buildings with more than 9 units?? Why do the small mom and pop buildings have to suffer! Putting pails out by the curb are a nuisance and if the weather is windy there goes your pails at $50.00 a pail.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 9:58am

• Howard B Brachfeld

  Building location is 619 9th ave in Manhattan. There are 6 units. There is no ability to store the plastic can in the basement or entrance way or halfway of the building. No ability to chain to front of build because of commerical store front. There is no super to move can to and from curb side 3 days a week. Tenants put bags out 8PM the evening before pick up. Never seen any evidence of rats attacking the bags.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 10:06am

• K D

  This rule is ridiculous. First of all, it will be heavy to carry these bins from the basement to the curb. Second the locking mechanism is going to make the sanitation workers take a longer time to empty them and it will make their route longer. Third, everyone knows the sanitation workers are not going to gingerly place the containers down after they dump the trash. The containers will be thrown and the lids will break. Who has to pay for another container? We do, the owners or we get a fine, right? Fourth, the containers will be stolen, and again who has to pay for that? The owners, right? Fifth, who will pick up the containers, once the trash is picked up? Many people work and won’t be around to pick up the trash containers in a timely manner. This is going to make the sidewalks filled with garbage containers and it will give thieves the opportunity to steal them. This is totally unfair to make us do this. It was with good intentions, but it is not the solution. And why do I HAVE to get a container from the city? This is just a money grab to help pay for the migrant problem. Why should I be paying for them? I pay plenty in taxes, this is just another way to make us responsible for what the City of New York is responsible for. This plan was not thought out well. There are more problems that will come with this. Will the City of New York pay for my broken and stolen garbage containers? I know, the City of New York is hoping this will happen so they can give fines to the New York owners. It’s bad enough that we help keep this city going through our exorbently high home taxes. Now, you figured out a way to get more money from us. To what end? Again, this is ridiculous. This is not the answer. Do not pass this rule.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 10:14am

• JERRY W MATEJKA

  I get it that we trying to eliminate rats and am already doing my part. Last year when I got a summons, I had my entire front yard cemented over costing me over $5k
  I am against the DSNY proposal on such a relatively short notice. For those owners already using closing lids which I recently purchased, now asking me to buy 8-10 new ones with a closing latch is crazy because they will cost me over $50 apiece.
  Please extend the date at least 1-2 years and then start the process incrementally instead of all 1-9 family units
  Jerry

  Comment added July 24, 2024 10:34am

• Samantha Tung

  this proposed law is very impractical!

  – who will bring the garbage cans back to the house or building if the homeowners all work ? and will they be subject to fines if the empty garbage cans are left out until the evening when the homeowners come home?

  – there will be garbage can theft as well, although I’m pretty sure lawmakers won’t care about this issue, for the homeowners who have to shell out more money to replace the garbage cans it would be more of a hardship.

  – in Queens where parking is really tight, how will the sanitation workers get the garbage cans to their truck? will they lift it over their heads when they walk between parked cars? especially if it’s filled with heavy garbage? or roll it down several houses to where there’s adequate space between cars? what happens if a car that is parked in front of the building gets damaged, who will be responsible?

  – for buildings that have 4-9 apartments, there would be a lot of garbage cans that would clog up the sidewalks and make the sidewalks more crowded than it already is.

  Please have lawmakers who actually live in the area where this proposed law is going to take effect have input on this law. This proposed law is so impractical to homeowners, pedestrians, sanitation workers and car owners.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 10:48am

• Irene C Krauland

  I oppose the new requirement as I often am away when the garbage collection may occur and this will mean the container will be subject to theft and destruction. Moreover it will be a temptation to others to put things in the container- such as recyclable materials – and the violation will be mine to pay. Tying up bags securely does not offer this opportunity. In the area I reside we do not have a rat issue. In the occasions we have, it is because of construction occurring in the streets which disrupts where they hide. I think in this day and age it should be possible to sterilize the rats so they don’t reproduce as proficiently as they do. The rat problem is very noticeable and persistent in the subway stations where there isn’t necessarily a steady food supply. I think 1-4 residential dwellings should be exempt of this requirement as these type of residences are not the problem.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 11:20am

• PSE

  While it’s a great idea to contain garbage, there has to be a better solution. We have a small building with no space to house an outdoor container as well as garbage and recyclable containers. The city should build curbside sheds, which also might eliminate the theft problem. We have a part time super who we would have to pay to come in the morning to retrieve the container. Once again it’s another financial (and space) burden that falls on those of us that provide rent stabilized housing for New Yorkers with no foresight into how to make this work for both the landlords and the city.
  Thank you for your consideration.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 11:59am

• charles green

  The fact that there is only one source for these containers stinks to high heaven.Many blocks have no curb access for the pickups.You are not considering the fact that rats can still eat through the containers.I urge the city to seek alternate methods to combat rats.perhaps you can enlist the huge migrant population to clean the streets.the unintended consequences of this legislation will place undue hardships on the population.I urge you to reconsider this law but I have little hope that you will do so.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 12:21pm

• PC

  Small buildings with commercial spaces do not have any place to store the receptacles; no basement access nor sidewalk storage area. The tenants are responsible for their garbage and it stays in their apartments until it is pickup time/day and then gets put out.
  Unfortunately, this is another burden that the city wants to shift onto the building owner. The city has created instances when citibikes, bike lanes and restaurant shacks deter the street cleaning work of the DSNY. To require the purchase of receptacles with tight fitting lids is ludicrous – when the tight fitting lid is opened by a passerby and the garbage is all over, that’s an extra sanitation violation for “open receptacle.” Of course, the theft of the pails will always be a problem. Prompt and efficient pickups will help to keep the rats from the building trash however, there are a million other places the rats can go and eat that are in need of review.
  We had “Cleaner, more livable, more vibrant streets” years ago when it was the fulfillment of a dream for many of us to own a piece of the greatest city on earth. Our streets have changed for the worse. Small property owners are trying their best to keep everything going. Please reconsider and remove this additional burden.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 12:35pm

• Virender k SURI

  This requirement will be a burden on small 4 -8 family owners and also hazardus to school kids and pedsterian walkers . first put after 8 pm then pick up the contaiers in the morning – sanitation look for own convwenience not the public convenience

  It wiull cost more to the owners with already LOOSING money

  Comment added July 24, 2024 12:56pm

• Charisse Tyus

  We are opposed for many reasons which include aesthetics, parking, space will not hold all the garbage that one city block of apartments. Leave landlords to manage their garbage. and the spend the money used for containers to address the rat problem more aggressively. Thank you.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 1:08pm

• Gordon M Stanley

  This regulation has not been sufficiently thought through. The relatively narrow sidewalks in our neighborhood are going to be rendered even less passable if there new recepticles are placed out for collection. Unless there is some way to secure them they will become an instant target for thieves, as has already occured in areas where this has been tried, and of course it will be up to the property owner to replace them. This cost will be passed on to tenants, along with other new mandated expenses, and will contribute to rising rents. It also makes no allowance for fluctuations in the amount of garbage we have to put out. I have a small building; most pickup days I put out one bag of garbage, but if I have someone moving in or there’s a renovation project there’s a lot more to throw out. If I have six bags to throw out- and this has happened- will I need six locking bins? Will it be the same for recyclables, which amounts can also vary wildly from week to week? If you want to get garbage off the sidewalks it would make much more sense to mandate block by block a narrow window in which Sanitation would pick up the trash and prohibit setouts until shortly before that time begins- essentially tightening what’s in place now.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 1:44pm

• PLC

  I’m sure all small building owners do their utmost to keep rats from their property. Requiring small building owners to buy receptacles is an undue burden – monetarily and physically. There is no space available inside or outside the building to keep the receptacles without causing a walking problem. More than likely, the receptacles will be stolen. The proposed rule would also open the door to a whole new list of receptacle violations.

  It is unfair for the city to place this burden on the backs of the small property owner, but I believe it is being done in order to show that “something is being done” about the rats. The city should look to itself to deal with all that prevents the city from being maintained in a clean and orderly fashion.
  Creating a new rule is not going to be the solution to the problem-please reconsider.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 2:53pm

• Esther Piscitelli

  I don’t think I should have to pay $50 for a bin that people will continue to rob. It is also my understanding that we will have to purchase multiple bins for paper, plastic, and garbage, and this isn’t fair to us residents.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 3:58pm

• Pedro Dominguez

  Please see attached file for comments. Thank you

  Comment attachment
  Garbage-Bins.docx

  Comment added July 24, 2024 5:24pm

• Eugene Ziemak

  This is the worst idea. I’ll have to spend three hours three times a week just to wash all the bins because I’m not allowed to use garbage bags, who is the genius who thought this up!!! This must not pass. This is a hardship on the people that live in the building this will bring in rodents and cockroaches and bugs. Within six months. The neighborhood will be flooded with rats and bugs. and you’re forcing me to buy them from one person this is communism at his best.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 5:54pm

• Jonathan Hochhauser

  I am confused by the June, 2026 date. If the city wants to require we use a certain type of container purchased from certain designated vendors, then have those vendors designated when the program goes into effect. How can the city insist we buy containers now only to insist we buy different containers two years from now? This is an unreasonable burden.

  Comment added July 24, 2024 10:54pm

• Papoutsis Anastasia

  This new mandate is not a practical one for landlords and supers that do not live in the properties. Last year mandate was implemented to put trash bags in the curb later in the day which we adopted with some changes in our scheduling. This new mandate will require landlord or super to also visit properties in the morning hours to remove trash bins from the curb.

  Comment added July 25, 2024 10:52am

• GKPapoutsis

  This new mandate is not a practical one for landlords and supers that do not live in the properties. Last year mandate was implemented to put trash bags in the curb later in the day which we adopted with some changes in our scheduling. This new mandate will require landlord or super to also visit properties in the morning hours to remove trash bins from the curb.

  Comment added July 25, 2024 10:53am

• Anthony C

  Crazy to me that the law makers keep trying to push rules that hurt housing providers. One thing is if these rules only applied to owner occupied homes or buildings with live in supers but to go on and make it a requirement for all of them is pretty insane. Collection times are not consistent and then on busy blocks you will end up having cans blocking walkways/ street parking on collection days. On top of that the cost is tremendous for income capped properties. Lets just consider .5-1 hour of work per collection day, this would be approximately $1560-$3120 at $20 an hour since its 3 x a week. The average monthly rent for a rent stabilized building is $1,555 (that number includes new rent stabilized buildings). So for many owners you have just reduced their already incredibly thin margins by 1-2 months rent of one of the units. We are talking about 6-9 unit rent regulated buildings so this is huge! This is on top of all the new burdens (gas pipe testing once every 4 years, mandatory xrfs for potential lead based paint, & increased fines across the board from dob/hpd/dhcr). 2-3% annual rent increases weren’t keeping up with the typical costs that were outpacing capped rent growth. These new “requirements” just make it impossible. This is especially true since the reality is that the majority of these buildings are facing refis with interest rates that are 70%-150% higher than they were paying 5-7 years ago. The city needs to help providers not continue to overburden them to the point where they are fed up and throw in the towel.

  Comment added July 25, 2024 11:18am

• AM

  It is just another way for the city to write up more violations!
  I do live in Queens there is not space for parking so It will be heavy to carry on these bins from the curb to the truck because there is not space between them so more cars will be damaged for the DSYN and I don’t think the DSYN workers are Superman! everyone knows the sanitation workers are not going to gingerly place the containers down after they dump the trash.

  Comment added July 26, 2024 9:18am

• ANGELA ABRUZZZO

  If the City is so concerned about the harassment is an issue that they should take care, not us small building owners, if the City wants us to buy these containers, so that the rats have no access to the interior of the containers, then they CITY should give every property owners those container for FREE, not that we small building owners must buy, do we get an increase in rent if we buy them?? I just purchased three garbage pails, because the building dept. requested it, I spent $150.00, what do I do throwing them away because the CITY, says we must have containers approved by the CITY, How can they impose small building owners this kind of harassement, because that all it is. Some politician instrumented this proposal, to have some contractor make money on us. These containers cannot be left curbside after garbage is picked up, because they will be stolen, I buy new covers, the next day they are. THIS LAW CANNOT PASS

  Comment added July 26, 2024 1:38pm

• JN

  Why do you keep making things harder for the small owners of multi-family buildings? It is like the big real estate guys are helping you figure out ways to push out us mom and pops.

  First, we can’t put out garbage out until 8pm. Have you tried putting your trash out in the dark when it is cold and icy outside, and you are already exhausted from a long day? Probably not, because you are rich folks with the money to hire people to do things for you.

  And this did nothing for the rat issue. People just got used to the rats, and stopped calling in complaints.

  Rats chew through plastic bins, even when those bins have lids. I have my trash in a sealed metal container, that has remained intact for the last year. Now I have to waste my money on something I know won’t work.

  How are these lidded bins that you are forcing us to buy supposed to fit between parked cars? And what if I can’t be home to bring the bins back inside? Let me guess, you will be issuing summons for any bin left outside for more than 4 hours, like you do now.

  And how much slower is sanitation collection going to become by dealing with all of these bins?

  Comment added July 26, 2024 3:33pm

• Brooklyn Homeowner

  Hello, shouldn’t the city provide homeowners with the first set of trash bins based on the number of dwellings they have? It doesn’t seem right to have homeowners purchase brand-new trash bins when we already have bins that work perfectly fine and have already invested money into. Not all homeowners can afford the price that these new trash bins are set at, especially if the city continues to implement all these new rules and laws toward homeowners, which has already caused a financial burden to some. This new rule with the trash bins also doesn’t seem ideal for the environment. What is the city planning to do with all the additional waste if homeowners have to throw out all these used trash bins?

  Comment added July 27, 2024 10:48am

• Saida Conigliaro

  When Sanitation enforces the use of bins for buildings and businesses and that law becomes a reality, then and I only then as a homeowners will obey this ridiculous law. Our streets are full of garbage and Sanitation claims no resources and human power yet will issue homeowners will be penalized with summons.

  Comment added July 28, 2024 5:11pm

• Nan schiff

  Guaranteed the bins will be stolen unless we can attach them to some pole that might have one of your signs in them. Good idea but not for this city. Great opportunity to cause pain and hardship for sanitation and landlord. Guaranteed this will fail unless we can secure these bins. No one can walk them back for hours. On bway all
  Of them are locked o. Bus signs or alternate parking. Why. For the reason I site. They will be dirty. Too far away to wash. Good thinking. Not he right time. Not the right place. Not the right city

  Comment added July 29, 2024 9:18am

• Shaun Covington

  More attention should be paid to garbage collection. The rules were changed so garbage would not be on the streets as long. Moving the permitted time to put out garbage 4 hours later. That would be helpful if the garbage was being picked up earlier. The focus should be put on Sanitation and tighter scheduling as opposed to putting more obstructions on the street in the way of cans.

  Comment added July 29, 2024 9:19am

• Mark

  Two issues:
  The additional expense to purchase authorized garbage containers as an additional expense on top of the inflationary expenses landlords experience along with the paltry rent increase allowances. This is completely unnecessary.
  The requirement does not take into consideration the increase in thefts that would impact landlords in this regard. Many landlords have either attempted to secure their garbage containers or not make them avaioable in a public area. This new requirement will undoubdedly lead to theft of containers and it would be incumbent on the landlords to replace otherwise they will get fined.

  Comment added July 29, 2024 9:24am

• Debra Scotto

  So what are you supposed to do on weeks where the amount of garbage generated by the building exceeds the space in the available containers? Each building can only fit a certain amount of containers! Now we bag it and put it to the side. Also, are the sanitation people going to neatly pick up the cans, dump them and PLACE them neatly back on the sidewalk in an UPRIGHT position with the lids reclosed?! Tossed cans sideways on the pedestrian right of way with garbage bits inside them and open lids are a picnic for rats and a hazard for people walking by. Not all sidewalks are wide enough to have cans thrown all over after pick up. And, it will likely take TWO garbage people per can to dump and re set them (assuming they are re set) so at least double the current work and man power……

  Comment added July 29, 2024 9:51am

• Catherine Harper

  The proposed requirement that owners of buildings with between 1 and 9 units use trash bins with lids in addition to the compost bins is unreasonable! We had to purchase additional compost bins since the one bin supplied by the city was not sufficient.

  We pay to have the garbage taken out of the bins in the yard and bag it during the day. Then we have to pay someone to come back to the building to put the garbage at the curb after 8pm. Now you want us to spend additional money to buy expensive bins that lock which we will have to turn around and bring back into the yard (if they haven’t been stolen) after the sanitation pick-up. Where is this money coming from? The rent increase limits imposed under the rent stabilization guidelines have us in a financial bind. Expenses continue to skyrocket while our rental income remains the same! Small landlords are going to be forced to sell or abandon the properties that have probably been in their families for decades. The five boroughs will consist of luxury apartments, affordable housing that no-one can afford and decaying older buildings that small landlords cannot afford to maintain! Between all the expensive inspections and related filing requirements small apartment buildings in the boros will become a thing of the past!

  Comment added July 29, 2024 10:03am

• BA

  Hi,
  I am writing in objection of the new proposed rules. I am a 2 family home owner in Queens. I currently put out the trash in the morning as I leave for work. I don’t typically come back home until 7-8pm, or sometimes have to travel overnights.

  Currently I can place my bags out for pickup and not worry. Now I need to figure out how the bins will make it’s way back to my property as I am away for the day at work. It is unfair to expect home owners to be available all day to place the bins back on our property when we are gone for the day or travelling overnight for work.

  In addition, I cannot understand how the sanitation department will roll bins to the truck when the entire block has cars parked bumper to bumper.

  This new initiative, although it has good intentions, is not practical for day to day NYC life and should be reconsidered.

  Thank you for your time,
  -A Concerned Home Owner

  Comment added July 29, 2024 10:12am

• Thomas christoforidis

  The rats in nyc will chew right through those plastic bins like they are currently doing now.this is a total money making scheme that the city is trying to get away with.keep taking more and more money out of our pockets.

  Comment added July 29, 2024 10:17am

• Angelo Vita

  Although the need to curb the rat population is important the remedy should be looked at with a balance of increasing pick-up schedules as well as placement of garbage on the curb. Perhaps the city should help purchase the bins for all landlords and the tenants, as we all work, reside and create garbage together. It’s not a landlord issue but a community issue.

  Comment added July 29, 2024 10:32am

• Jeffrey Heidings

  The onus on small building owners is unfair

  Comment added July 29, 2024 10:42am

• Susan

  My company owns several buildings where this is no lobby space for trash cans, where there is also no sidewalk space available outside of the buildings to store trash cans to will only be used for that building, and which have a flight stairs that 45 gallon trash cans would have to be lugged up and down to be put out for collection
  It would be a hardship for us to be required to use trash cans instead of trash bags.

  Comment added July 29, 2024 11:54am

• KAD

  I am a small building owner who pays exorbitant taxes and fees just to run a small business in NYC. This new regulation is obscene. Not only does it require small business owners to purchase new receptacles by your hand picked contractor, but we aren’t even allowed to secure the receptacles to prevent them from being stolen. The city hasn’t even retrofitted the trash trucks with the ability to pick up the receptacles, but we’re supposed to use these new bins now?? How much of a kick back do our politicians get from these new receptacles?? Requiring small building owners, 1-9 family only, without taking into consideration all the larger buildings, fails to define the outcome you think it will produce. Perhaps you should hire more sanitation workers to fix this problem rather than spending our money on homeless shelters for illegals.

  Comment added July 29, 2024 12:18pm

• A.S.

  I am against implementation of this proposal. More onerous rules.

  Comment added July 29, 2024 12:32pm

• Ilumi Dominguez

  I don’t think that forcing small building owners to buy $50 garbage bins is going to reduce the rat infestation in our city. The rats are everywhere! In our parks, subway tunnels, building courtyards and even crossing our streets in broad daylight. Where are we going to store these bins on non-pick-up days? The majority of small buildings have no outside areas to keep bins or elevators to bring them up from basements. Some of these buildings are home to seniors, like myself, and have little income leftover after operating expenses, taxes, and inspections required by our city to maintain and operate our buildings. Let alone, replacement of stolen bins or violations.
  Did anyone think about these issues before imposing the new rule? NO! Just create a new implementation and pass it on to the landlords to figure it out, like all the other ones we have to comply with. Is the city going to reimburse us for stolen bins? Will the larger buildings still be able to put their garbage out at dawn in Black Bags? Why can’t small buildings do the same since we have less garbage?
  Whoever thought of this new implementation needs to think of all the ramifications imposed on small building owners, not just the rats or fattening the pockets of the $50 bin manufacturers. Enough is enough!

  Comment added July 29, 2024 12:50pm

• Jack

  The only people siding with this regulation are tenants who don’t have to pay, or they are landlords with higher market rents. Previous regulations, the purpose of the time change to put out the trash was so that it’s outside less. Often, I’ve seen that the trash isn’t picked up till just before sunrise the next day or the DSNY skipped that day. Bins need to be provided for free or reimburse for the previous ones. New bins must not be supplied by a sole provider (monopoly). Regulations that didn’t work need to go retro before we implement this new regulation. Completely one sided and unfair.

  Comment added July 29, 2024 1:44pm

• Vera Zeqiraj

  I Oppose the requirement that requires home owners purchase these bins with the vendors NYCDS assigned. As property owners we have been chaining our bins so that others don’t steal them. We now are facing thieves stealing our trash and recycling bags fresh out of our chained bins on a daily basis! I see this a an issue that has deeper roots than a tight fitting trash can cover! We will get fined when the homeless or the can collectors rummage through our cans all night leaving the bins open to rodents and creating a mess, only to find NYDOS writing citations before we wake up and see the mess.!

  Comment added July 29, 2024 4:29pm

• Leslie Leong

  The new DSNY requirement for trash containers is impractical for our building which has three residential units. We don’t have an alleyway or any space between properties nor do we have an accessible basement where we could store the required rigid containers. There isn’t enough sidewalk space where the containers could be stored. Picture a typical downtown Chinatown street where the buildings don’t have alleys between them.

  If we were able to leave the containers on the sidewalk, there would be either stolen or filled with pedestrian trash. Please change your rules so they don’t impose a requirement that is impossible for us to comply with.

  Comment added July 29, 2024 4:32pm

• Nicolina Vella

  It is a financial burden for me as I’m barely making my monthly expenses for my building and have a second job. I can’t afford anymore expenses that the city is implementing. It will be very difficult for me as I am an absentee landlord that lives 17 miles away and I no longer drive because of my disabilities. I would need to hire someone to literally wait for the garbage truck to pick at odd hours and then secure the binds which I can’t afford to put someone on the payroll. My 6 family house is located on a busy street to the entrance of the Grand Central Parkway and the RFK bridge in Queens. In inclement weather those bins will all be blown away over the street and can be a hazard to on coming traffic as well as pedestrians. Also, I don’t have any space outside or inside the building to store these bins. This is not a good idea and not in the best interest of struggling landlords like me to maintain our properties.

  Comment added July 29, 2024 7:07pm

• Larry Becker

  Will plastic garbage bags still be required for garbage placed in bins?

  Comment added July 29, 2024 9:33pm

• Tom Mustac

  This rule is an undue burden on my small properties. We do not have the storage space for safe maneuvering and they will be a pedestrian hazard on the sidewalk. We already have bins with fitted lids and we are surrounded by much larger buildings with mountains of trash that are exempt from the rule. This is an undue burden with no benefit to anyone.

  Comment added July 29, 2024 9:47pm

• Tom Mustac

  Has anyone noticed that the sole supplier of the selected trash bins is a private equity firm?? How/why were they selected?? These types of bins are used all over the world and they are not as robust as they appear. Those hinges snap and the lids become unusable. Take a look at all the good that average New Yorkers dump on our streets, benches and under cars every day. They are the ones feeding the rats. Why are you not fining these litterbugs that share their lunch with the rodents? Put trash where it belongs and you will see a reduction of rodents. Help landlords force filthy tenants to clean up their apartment. There are many tenants that have thick film of grease and crud on their windows, stoves and countertops… these are your breeders.

  Comment added July 29, 2024 9:56pm

• Peter Haviaras

  We are managing agents of smaller residential buildings in Brooklyn. From experiance this will not help the city rodent problem much at all but
  it will however cause a tremendous burden on small building owners, part time janitors and in the end result in fines for the building, stolen expensive trash containers, etc.
  Also, Agreeing with someone else’s comment that the average building has no area to store such bins. Smaller residential buildings do not have elevators, they do not have areas at street level for storage. The City is asking an individual to lug a container filled with trash from someplace in a building – typically the basement of a building – up a flight of steps – to the street curb. This requirement is written by someone that has never actually managed a property in NY.

  Comment added July 30, 2024 9:55am

• V

  Has a pilot test been run in any of the 5 boroughs with these particular cans? If not, one needs to be done to see if any substantial difference if made with regards to the following:

  (1) does the rat population go down?
  (2) do the cans fit between parked cars?
  (3) how much slower will trash collection be?
  (4) does the slower collection time affect traffic flow adversely?
  (5) does the can fit inside fences of residences?
  (6) can the cans be managed by individuals who have physical limitations?

  Comment added July 30, 2024 11:25am

• V

  Please make building that are 100% rent stabilized exempt from this requirement. Our operating budgets are already extremely limited. We cannot afford yet another expense.

  Comment added July 30, 2024 11:28am

• Karina Taveras

  I cannot imagine the theft and extra work this will entail for property owners and supers. We have to lock up the bins when they are not in use and leave them on the sidewalk for about 10 hours. So if they are stolen while out on the sidewalk, property owners have to replace them and if not, get a summons. This is crazy!

  Comment added July 30, 2024 11:34am

• Alexis B

  This is a cost that is hard for Landlords with rent stabilized buildings to afford. I agree they should be offering them for free or heavily discounted ($50 a can is not “cheaper than most”) and I don’t understand why any sized can (capped at a size) with attached lid can’t be used? Additionally, buildings on commercial avenues keep their cans inside the building, we can’t fit these new cans in the limited space we have, and we are at a loss as to how to make this work.

  Comment added July 30, 2024 1:58pm

• TaxFax

  Will these rules apply to properties owned by city council members as well?

  The city has a history of not enforcing about elected officials who break laws. For example, City Council Member Darlene Mealy hasn’t paid taxes since 20202 – but DOF does nothing. She hasn’t paid HPD fines in years either.

  Will DSNY also ignore violations of this rule for elected officials as well?

  Comment attachment
  mealy-1.pdf

  Comment added July 30, 2024 11:33pm

• Nan schiff

  Second time I am adding comments as I realize the ideas are good but so not practical or achievable in the boroughs we own in. The population will find ways to do the usual . Turn cans over, steal them, and more. Now the landlord will have spent more money in buildings that limit severely increases for the running of them, continue to raise the real estate taxes even though no one wants to buy them and when they do the reduction in their value from three years is huge. No bank wants to lend on them. On and on. It’s a pity for sure but bringing more hardship to the landlord is what this will do. The ticket violations will only rise and while I believe you mean to do a good thing, this city is not that place currently for that kind of thinking regrettably. Wait u til we solve if possible some of the bigger problems like getting help in housing and services for the homeless.

  Comment added July 31, 2024 8:50am

• Chris Efthimiou

  Hello DSNY,

  I am a small property owner of a rental property in Queens and support the discarding of refuse in containers like most modern cities, especially trash that contains organic items. The long-standing practice of discarding organic waste in plastic bags on streets in unsanitary and promotes rat infestation.
  I would appreciate if there is no requirement to place the can curbside as sanitation workers and place the cans back in place when finishing their pickup. This will eliminate the problem of re-arranging the cans after pickup. Any non-organic trash that exceeds that limits of the cans and is placed outside he cans should not be penalized. Thank you.

  Comment added July 31, 2024 9:11am

• Marcelino I Lake II

  What are the new containment requirements? Please send the specifications to [email protected]

  Comment added July 31, 2024 9:30am

• Roman Kaczmarzyk

  Hello
  We have houses in Ridgewood .
  Too many cars and they park very close to each other on our streets .
  there is no space between cars to carry the new proposed trash containers to the street.
  I don’t see the way how sanitation department will carry them over the park cars .
  it will be impassible .
  another problem is that if the containers are not chained and locked they get stollen right away
  we will not be able to chain and locked them on the street .
  they will be stollen first night .
  thank you
  Roman Kaczmarzyk

  Comment added July 31, 2024 10:46am

• Janice Hamilton

  I am against this new rule regulation with likely unintended consequences for smaller owners, pedestrians in these areas, traffic and school schedules. This is yet another onerous requirement placed on building owners. Greater focus on DSNY staffing to ensure waste is picked up is a more effective policy that we continue to advocate for. This is additional financial burden on small property owners, as when there is no sanitation pickup date, the cans will be like city garbage cans for public pedestrians to litter in it, and lid locks will have to be purchased to avoid being dumped on. The bins are subject to THEFT and therefore having to re-buy new bins repeatedly.

  Comment added July 31, 2024 12:39pm

• Bernadette

  I am against this proposal. The only effect this proposal will have is make the contract holder a lot of money with no effect on the rat problem. Want to get rid of rats? Do it like they did in Amsterdam: light the sewers on fire and burn the rats or bring back effective rodenticide. This proposal is another example of inept policy makers from consulting firms (useless in the real world) playing with owners money instead of listening to boots on the ground with common sense. I veto this proposal and everyone associated with it.

  Further, due to the increased crime, these bins will have to be regularly replace due to theft (Bail Reform what a failure).

  Want to reduce rats and trash? Increase garbage collection and get some good rat poison. Don’t want to kill the rats? Start allowing ppl to eat rat meat (if worms, roaches, crickets, scorpions and other insects are acceptable sources of protein so are rats) or use rat meat in pet food or rat meat as fertilizer the applications for rats are endless. There are solutions(environmental and other) you just have a bunch of incompetents in decision-making offices that need to be fired.

  Comment added July 31, 2024 1:06pm

• Corey

  I am a small landlord. My buildings are small mixed use. Apartments above stores in high pedestrian traffic areas. These buildings were built over 100 years ago. There is no where to leave this bins inside the building. The stairways are too narrow so would be fire hazard. If we leave them on the street it will crowd an already crowded sidewalk covered with sidewalk cafes, commercial garbage bins, bikes, and pedestrians. Cars are often parked so close together the bins wont fit between them DSNY comes. There are also many questions like: What happens if tenants have extra garbage bags from a party or moves out as examples? What about bulk items that don’t fit in bags? How does snow factor into this? What prevents people walking down the street from throwing garbage in them? What prevents people from stealing the bins? This idea of containerization needs to be thought out more with more input from supers, porters, and the community in general.

  Comment added August 1, 2024 12:08pm

• Mark

  I am against this proposal. The bins will be stolen, they can’t fit between cars, there is no where in small buildings to store them inside, pedestrians will throw trash in them, sidewalks will be come more dirty and crowded in high density areas. Bins will be pushed and moved around blocking sidewalks. I will have to hire staff to clean and maintain the bins everyday. I will have to pay to replace bins that are worn or stolen. All of this adds even more financial stress to small landlords.

  Pick up trash more frequently and faster. If people put out before midnight don’t wait till 8am to pick it up. The outdoor dining doesn’t allow streets to be swept and cleaned properly (even with the new program). If you actually really cared about the rat issue you would stop the restaurants. They are the main issue here. Rats nests under many of them.

  In Tokyo they have a larger more dense city. No trash cans anywhere yet no trash anywhere! We need to educate people and fine litters and dumpers. We have to clean our streets from the bottom up. We need to change our culture to keep our streets clean not fine landlords and add more regulations. That doesn’t solve the problem.

  This will be yet another expense for property owners. They think every landlord is rich. Far from it! With the extremely high taxes and expenses coming with owning in NYC it is forcing small landlords out of business. When landlords leave and the city loses tax revenue and their jobs they will finally understand. They are killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

  Comment added August 1, 2024 12:30pm

• Alexander Castillo

  Hello,

  By assigning a dollar value the city will create the incentive for the development of a black market for these trash bins.
  These $50+ bins will be out on the sidewalk for several hours where a thief can easily pick them up.

  The police has limited resources and tracking stolen trash bins will surely not be on top of their lists.
  It could take the police days/weeks to find stolen bins.
  ***What do we do with our trash in the meantime?***

  The city should give these containers for free — specially to tax-paying small homeowners/landlords.

  Thanks.

  Comment added August 1, 2024 12:54pm

• Deo

  Politician finding new ways of juicing the working class that pay taxes. What am I goin to do with my existing can. A five year phase out might work. Full the landfill with it. We should have CAT house around. Works great in my neighborhood
  The sanitation workers empty these containers and dump them back on the street. They should secure them.

  Comment added August 2, 2024 8:44am

• Alison Bradshaw

  PROBLEMS WITH PLAN:
  TIME:
  Tight fitting lids will require a Sanitation worker to PRY OPEN the tight-fitting lid before the bagged contents could be up-ended into the Garbage truck opening, which has to take a lot more time than the direct motion of hoisting a sealed bag into the rear of the truck for disposal.
  TRUCK DESIGN
  If a new bin-opening hoist must be added to the Sanitation trucks to try to automate the procedure, this will be a costly conversion, and it will take far more TIME to execute, and FURTHER with more mechanical moving parts be subject to more TRUCK BREAKDOWNS.
  STORAGE SPACE
  Consider the situation for a building with up to 9 units: each residential unit has 1 bag of garbage 3 times a week so the building would need 4-5 of these bins (if not much garbage has built up). Most small buildings [approx 3-6 stories] do not have an interior space to store such bins inside for the 7 days/4 nights the bin must be off the street; if kept out on the street within the building property line, the street would feature a line of garbage bins all the time instead of only 3 nights per week after 9 PM until 6AM for the current bags.
  Consider the situation for a building with 3-5 units: where can such bins be kept in the narrow hall, with a 5 step stoop?
  STENCH
  Even with tight lids, there will be a street stench, as the bins are filled by the units ahead of curb-time, as well as being ugly.
  Surely it will be less expensive to the city to hire more sanitation workers to get the current bags off the street more quickly.

  Comment added August 2, 2024 9:49am

• H. Greene

  There are buildings that have absolutely NO place to store bins except outside on the property itself. Tight fitting lids will stop rodents from getting inside the bins but they will NOT stop them from being attracted to the smell. For buildings that need to store the bins outside, this will create an even bigger attractant, rodents will wander onto the property itself. For buildings like ours, there is no place to store them except outside or in our own individual living rooms. In ALL cases where these outdoor bins are required, I strongly suspect that tenants will use this as an opportunity to dispose of garbage on a regular basis, instead of keeping it inside until the evening before collection day. This is not a solution for buildings that have no contained storage.

  Comment added August 2, 2024 10:01am

• Steven Swidler

  Hello: As a small property owner I am very concerned about the propsed receptacles plan by DSNY. Small property owners are already being asked to assist is rat mitigation which costs us thousands of dollars per year as well as costing us hundreds of hours to be repsonsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the property. Currently I have a large plastic garbage bin next to my property with a key lock that only my tenants have access to. However, on an almost daily basis, someone walks by to either break open the lock to rummage through the garbage or someone puts their own garbage on top of the bin. It is impossible to stop these actions. With the new DSNY proposal, I foresee these same actions taking place which will result in violations from DSNY. I would recommend that the city of New York look to see what other cities are doing that effectively reduce or eliminate the rat infestation. Property owners and city officials need to partner to figure out a solution. Working as allies is the best way to find a remedy. In the meantime, putting the sole responsibility on small property owners seems punitive and not the best way to deal with a cityide problem.

  Comment added August 2, 2024 12:54pm

• R.

  Do you really want to solve the rat infestation in New York City? I have answers for you.
  1. Collect garbage six days a week as it was done years ago. Collecting trash only three days a week results in accumulation of garbage which means rats have more sources of food whether on the sidewalks or in the buildings where garbage is kept. The size of the ugly piles of garbage will be reduced immensely. It is just plain logic. More collection days means less garbage accumulated each day. Does this make sense?
  2. Collect the garbage every night between 7:00PM and midnight. Rats are nocturnal and will come out to feast once it gets dark and late at night. Why is the garbage left out overnight to be collected in the morning? Why can’t sanitation collect the garbage from 7:00 PM to midnight six nights a week?
  3. Are the rugged cans the city is promoting really vermin proof? Rats will eat through anything for food. Will we get reimbursed when the rats puncture the bins the city is proposing, and we must replace them?
  4. Why are you forcing us property owners to purchase from one vendor? This is a monopoly, and it should not be allowed.
  5. Property owners cannot afford to purchase more cans each time one or all get stolen. This is not fair. The city should provide them as we already pay enough taxes.

  These are my comments. I hope someone reads them so better decisions can be made if you are serious about resolving the rat problem and the unsightly, ugly black bags placed out for pickup three days a week.

  Comment added August 2, 2024 5:04pm

• Cliff M

  1. We pay taxes and illegal immigrants do not. We pay health coverage, illegal immigrants do not. Divert some of that money, which are our taxes, and NYC should pay for our new garbage cans.
  2. By putting a price on them will cause others to take them and resell. What do you do in a case if someone steals the garbage containers. You gave us the waste containers and no need to steal them since they are free. Be prepared for the theft of these containers.
  3. I have been using my hard containers since I bought my house in 1979, why must I purchase a new container. That causes waste. You are creating new containers causes pollution to make them and have us discard ours. Do what Con Ed did. They exchanged old bulbs for new bulbs; you can do that. New containers for old containers.
  4. If you think those containers will remain closed, you are wrong. Have you seen the many bags and other garbage that is put out. People will be trying to stuff everything leaving those lids open. Defeats the whole purpose. Those plastic bags are closed.
  5. There are so many unintended consequences.
  6. This is not how you should start a new process. Take a small area in one borough and test it out for 6 months and see if it works. This is how many companies move forward with new processes. Test first and get the bugs out before taking it to the entire city.
  7. This will not make picking up the garbage quicker; it may slow them down. If you are comparing rural areas to urban areas, that is a mistake. This is why you test the idea first.
  8. And your 1 thru 9 dwellings is not a reality. There are so many illegal dwellings in the 5 boroughs. There is a two family house directly across from me. They have two doors leading to the basement with two families living behind each door of the illegal basement. Garbage pails you sell will be stolen.
  9. Your sanitation agents should be giving tickets to those areas that are not compliant and just maybe there would be less rats. Changing this for most of us that have no rat problems is wrong. Clean up those dwellings first.

  Comment added August 4, 2024 1:26pm

• Ilan

  I’m all for bins instead of bags on the street, but we already suffer from regular DSNY violations as the result of vagrants un-sorting our trash as they look to steal recycling or dispose of their own refuse. How can we get NYPD and DSNY to enforce against these individuals rather than owners?

  We’ve also seen trash cans and trash bags stolen. Will we be able to count on assistance from the city should our cans be stolen or interfered with?

  Comment added August 4, 2024 8:54pm

• Leonard Cazzorla

  The cost for these tight fitting containers for each building. Will just keep on raising the rent for each city requirement.

  Comment added August 5, 2024 10:05am

• Harula

  Is the city providing these bins for free?
  What are we suppose to do with all the bins we already have, more plastic waste for the city to figure out what to do with?
  Also what is the proposed size of these new latching bins and is it realistic to the amount of garbage a building has ? Will we then have to buys 6+ bins just for a 6 family ?

  Comment added August 5, 2024 10:06am

• J Seigel

  As senior citizen teacher and owner occupant, I strongly, vehemently oppose the measure to force bins at curbside. In the 1970s-1960s when cans went to the curb, I remember the lids and cans being strewn all about the street the next morning — and my father running around trying to find them. Sometimes they were lost or stolen as is anything of value put out on the street.

  When NYC switched to bags, one of the stated reasons came from DSNY workers that bins were too heavy for them to pick up — and the bins will be too heavy again, for both DSNY workers and homeowners to carry to the curb, sometimes over steps.

  This curbside bins adds yet another burden to home owners and building owners requiring us to pick up them up the next day– that means we could never set out the garbage and go out of town. This measure will force more labor from us, when we already have so many requirements. Or we would have to hire someone to collect the cans the next day. So yet more expense.

  Often DSNY does not pick up the actual black garbage bags for more than 24 hours– prompt pick up within a reasonable time will get rid of trash at curbside. Yes, DSNY claimed that 8 p.m. pick up will help the rat situation — but DSNY does not promptly pick up is yet again fobbing off departmental problems onto homeowners in a misguided measure, causing more work, stress and time for homeowners. And heavier lifting for DSNY as well. It is a logistical nightmare for everybody.

  To sum up, reasons that curbside trash bins are a terrible idea:
  1) Cans will be lost and stolen if set at curbside.
  2) Cans must be collected the next day causing more work, labor and headaches for homeowners and custodians.
  3) It slow collection and be more difficult for DSNY workers to collect the cans through narrow spaces between closely-parked cars at curbside in crowded NYC streets
  4) Cans are heavier to carry to curbside so cumbersome, if not impossible for many, burdening homeowners and DSNY workers both.
  5) Bins are not as flexible as bags so take up more room at curbside than flexible bags, which can take different-shaped, awkward items without cramming things in.
  6) One bin can be quite heavy, vs. breaking trash into several bags to carry to curbside, causing more physical labor and strength needed for homeowners and DSNY workers.
  7) Forcing recycling into bins is especially cumbersome, causing bin build up at curbside. And recyclables do not attract waste, so why force those items into bins? It doesn’t make sense.

  Please do not go back to the bins, which were terrible in the many ways listed above.

  Thank you,
  J Seigel
  Greenwich Village

  Comment added August 5, 2024 10:11am

• Bruce Crouch

  Who pays for the containers that are stolen.
  I currently have the containers chained to the building.

  Comment added August 5, 2024 10:13am

• Louise Pfister

  I am a long-time owner of small buildings in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
  The change in the regulation for setting trash out after 8 PM was a very poor plan, especially since rats are largely nocturnal feeders, but the large, expensive trash containers will be a magnitude worse. First, with parked cars or bicycle racks on most streets, the DOS workers will be unable to get the containers to the sanitation truck. Apparently, the City Council is unaware of the rampant theft of the commercial container regulations already in place. We live on 12th Street in Manhattan and every night, vagrants rip open all the trash containers and they will continue. They will be selling stolen trash bins on the contraband markets on East 14 St between 1st- Avenue A. The small building owner is already burdened with defacto “rent regulation” passed by Gov. Hochul. Natural gas has jumped from $0.45/therm to $0.81/therm effectively doubling the cost to provide heat and hot water. The officials involved in these onerous changes should at a minimum be an owners of real estate in the Metropolitan area. Finally, large, expensive trash bins will not address the source of much of the trash on city street left by the unhoused that leave trash on sidewalks and stoops daily.

  Comment added August 5, 2024 10:31am

• frank

  This is just another ridiculous attack on landlords to spend money on useless things that will not solve anything except extort more money from landlords!! This city is the worst to own any property, they just keep coming up with more and more foolish laws to extort money from hardworking good landlords ! The city should worry about their own properties that do not meet their own crazy guidelines!!!

  Comment added August 5, 2024 10:34am

• Dina

  Will sanitation provide bins with latches?? Or latches to add to bins??
  I just purchased brand new bins, and not planning on buying new bins anytime soon. So help me out here please!

  Comment added August 5, 2024 11:36am

• Joseph Pietanza

  The city should use a safe chemical to control the rat population not keep punishing landlords for the city incompetence in keeping the city rat free like exterminating rats in the subway system.

  Comment added August 5, 2024 12:09pm

• Concerned Small Property Owner

  This is a class action lawsuit in the making. This regulation is the definition of placing an undue burden on small property owners in particular, causing severe financial strain and making compliance impractically difficult.

  By pricing these bins at $50, City Council is creating a commodity and black market incentivizing the continued stealing of these bins, and further penalizing the small property owner with added fines. This places unreasonable financial strain on the small property owner.

  As a small property owner of just two residential units, I am *already* dealing with theft of trash containers and despite my best efforts, constant sanitation fines for the daily actions of vagrants and dumped trash by unscrupulous neighboring tenants.

  This regulation is poorly thought out and will result in multiple legal actions against New York City.

  Comment added August 5, 2024 12:58pm

• Matthew Choi

  Please see attached for testimony from the group Open Plans

  Comment attachment
  Open-Plans-Testimony_-Curbside-Trash-Containerization.pdf

  Comment added August 5, 2024 2:18pm

• Angela Murdocca

  This is not going to solve the rat problem in our city. You want us to buy these new bins, they will be stolen even with our addresses on. Second when the sanitation pick up the garbage most small building owners will not be available to bring the bins off of the curb until they finish their other job. The bins will have open lids all these hours and if there is any left over garbage guess where the rats will be. Why can’t we use chemicals which are safe for humans & animals to get rid of the rats? The subways, parks, construction sites, and individuals who just leave their garbage anywhere will still not solve this rat problem. The city keeps putting the responsibility on small landlords who do not have supers or cannot afford one because of the rent stabilization apartments. Let’s pick up garbage three times a week like years ago too.

  Comment added August 5, 2024 4:16pm

• Salvatore Calderone

  Changing pickup times, and now requiring landlords to use sealing containers instead of plastic bags is not going to solve our massive rat problem.
  Look at the city of Chicago where these type containers are already being used. They are unpleasant to look at and are no way near as affective as they’d hoped.
  Rats strive to survive and reproduce. To eradicate them the City needs to implement a safe, EPA approved full scale poison control program, similar to the one landlords already initiate around their buildings.
  Forcing landlords to continue to invest in failed ideas is not the solution. We need to consider better ideas to out smart rats, and eradication by strategically placing poison bait stations throughout the city and in our underground subway tunnels is a good place to start.

  Comment added August 5, 2024 5:46pm

• Gordon Stanley

  We have a relatively narrow sidewalk. Even without the new receptacles it’s often difficult for strollers and wheelchairs to pass. With the new cans it will be impossible. We also have 24 hour parking on both sides of our street. Sometimes the cars are nearly bumper to bumper. How are the Sanitation crews supposed to get a full can through these narrow openings? It simply will not work. A better idea would be to have the can have a rat-secure “front door” which the Sanitation crew could unlock, and take the bagged garbage out to the truck. But the biggest problem for a small building is the lack flexibility. Our yard has room for three receptacles, one each for trash, paper, and metal/glass, but fairly frequently there are occasions when more than one bag of trash or recyclables needs to be set out. Where am I supposed to put the extra receptacles? What happens when the new cans get stolen? Will we have to buy new ones and pay a fine if we can’t get them by the next set-out day? This proposal simply has not been thought through by anyone who’s actually had to manage a building.

  Comment added August 5, 2024 8:23pm

• Jim McLean

  Instead of making hundreds of landlords with properties under 10 unit to use a ridge container with a lid or to leave out their black trash bags on the sidewalk curb after 8pm before collection day, the best way to solve the rat problem is to change all Sanitation Collector shifts starting at 9:00pm instead. This way, the garbage doesn’t sit on the sidewalk for 10 hours until those garbage collectors come around to each building starting at 7:00am. Rats usually come out at night, so the sooner it’s taken away, the better for all of NYC.

  Comment added August 5, 2024 10:47pm

• Frankie Stein

  In order to prevent these new trash bins from being stolen daily, the great City of New York should provide all of them including colored recycling bins for free to all landlords, building owners and building managers. This way, there’s no value to those thieves who steal them.

  Comment added August 5, 2024 10:52pm

• Luca Burato

  This rule will further increase the maintenance costs for buildings, which are already penalised by increasing property taxes, cost of labour and insurance costs. They will not only pose financial challenges but also logistical ones. Most of these buildings lack elevator access and collect their trash in the basement. Superintendents will need to manoeuvre heavy bins up and down several flights of stairs. Additionally, the appearance of these bins will impact the neighborhood’s quality, as many will need to be permanently on the street, decreasing property values and the quality of life.

  Comment added August 6, 2024 8:55am

• Dexter Buell

  I recently purchased a trash bin that looks exactly like the one the City wants us to purchase. It would be nice to be able to keep using the bin I spent money on instead of having to purchase a new one. Making everyone buy new bins will create a lot of plastic waste (since their old bins will need to be thrown out). Also, it seems problematic that there is only one vendor to buy the bins from.

  Comment added August 6, 2024 11:15am

• Elderly Homeowner

  I am a senior citizen and live in a walkup. Even today, it is difficult for me to drag a trash bag down the stairs to the sidewalk.

  As an elderly person, how am I to bring a heavy bin up and down the stairs on a weekly basis, without hurting myself or causing damage to the stairs?

  As an elderly person on a reduced income, does City Council expect me to pay to replace each exorbitantly expensive bin when (not if) they are stolen? Or when I am issued a fine for a violation caused by the theft of my bin?

  This regulation is dangerously short sighted, unduly burdensome and cruel to New York City property owners.

  Comment added August 6, 2024 3:44pm

• Douglas Pirnie

  I am president of a small (5-unit) coop on the Upper West Side. The new rules for NYC sanitation containers cause us a problem as they are too tall to fit into our garage area, which is only 30 inches high. Is it possible to receive a waiver to allow us to continue to use the the existing containers we are using?

  Thank you.

  Comment added August 6, 2024 4:57pm

• Ada

  I understand the need to reduce bags to deter rodents. However, the bins are not cheap. If they are stolen, who should the owner reach out to in order to notify that the bin has been stolen, so they can be reimbursed?

  If the bins are placed on the sidewalk by what time do they have to be placed back so they are not on the sidewalk. Many smaller residential buildings have someone who also has a full time job, so they may not get a chance to remove the bins from the sidewalk until after work. How is this being handled?

  Comment added August 6, 2024 8:27pm

• WWW

  The trash cans will create immense hardship for most small buildings. In our case, we have a 2 family (2nd flr) + commercial (1st Flr). The face of the building is narrow compared to the length which is attached to the neighboring buildings. When you enter the separate residential side, it’s just a narrow hallway leading upstairs directly to 2 apartment doors.

  We don’t have a place to store the trash cans indoors without blocking the hallway and creating a fire hazard. Since the law is regarding 1-9 unit homes, 5 units= 5 trash cans? and 7 units= 7 trash cans?-that’s a lot of cubic space you’ll need to store these. In addition, outdoor trash cans are filthy, grimy, and unsanitary in a way that your average indoor trash cans are not and should not be kept indoors. Our basement and outdoor space are only accessible through the commercial space, so we can’t store it there either. When people are cornered, they may resort to “creative” solutions, such as storing the trash cans on the 2nd flr and lugging them down steep stairs , which is an accident waiting to happen. Is this what the city wants?

  Storing the trash cans outdoors will create a nightmarish scenario that’s even worse. Buildings like our face an additional unsolvable challenge because the front/ground flr of the building is commercial space and we can’t store the trash cans in front without infringing upon their lease with us and greatly decreasing the attractiveness of the commercial space, which like many others in the city has also already been hard enough to rent without this additional challenge. Also, for anyone who has or wants to rent to a store with big windows or a restaurants, the multitude of residential trash cans in front is going to cause a huge conflict.

  Moreover, if you have a day job, don’t have a super, don’t live on the premises, you will be immediately exposed to high risk. Passerbys will inevitably throw trash in/on top of your trash can i.e. dog poop. There’s risk of the trash can being stolen, damaged, rolling on the street, and even rolling into cars. Don’t forget, if people leave for a job before the trash is picked up, the trash cans will remain unmonitored until they come home from work. What if someone takes your rolling trash can and slams it into someone’s car. Will you be liable then? You’re at the mercy of the actions of anybody who passes by the trash can and you will be responsible for ALL OF THE RISK, while having no control of the situation. How scary is that? On a different note, any hardship created for the general population will be exponential for the elderly.

  Also, the fact is that the trash bags are a superior solution for a city like ours. They are more space efficient, because you can stack them. They are lighter and thereby easier to move around for people with physical disabilities. You can put out as many as necessary depending on your needs. Even for the average person, the weight of the trash bins filled with trash where someone is supposed to drag it from their backyard space to the street will be very cumbersome and heavy. Some buildings will not have space to line up multiple trash cans next to each other and the capacity of one trash can may not be enough for one household. Sometimes, you have 2-3 people living even in a small apt, due to the high living costs of the city. If that’s the case does that mean you have 4 units, but now need 8 trash cans?

  Also, landlords can’t control how much trash their tenants produce and whether they will make an effort to fit it into the trash can, or even use the trash can at all. When the city fines someone it will be the landlord, so there’s no incentive for the tenant to do right, and impossible for the landlord to rectify the situation.

  Also, this disproportionately will affect lower/middle income neighborhoods because luxury buildings usually have doormen and staff who will take care of the trash, unlike small landlords.

  In addition, it’s reasonable to worry about the burden this will put on the DSNY. Many streets are bumper to bumper cars. It was already hard to reach the trash bags, but the increased weight of bins and trash together will increase the hassle and amount of time it takes to retrieve the trash cans and return them. With trash bags, sanitary workers don’t have to worry about maneuvering them without damaging something i.e a car. Returning the trash cans will be time consuming and a pain, increasing the burden to the sanitation workers who are picking up the garbage.

  We are not the suburbs where the majority are houses with front yards or sheds. I believe that’s why the previous administrations could see that this would create unreasonable hardship for too many of NYC’s residents.

  In conclusion, it’s an unequivocal YES that this law will produce immense hardship, create immense stress, and lower the quality of living for both tenants and landlords alike. More importantly it will overburden and expose both homeowners and the DSNY to all sorts of risks, especially litigation. It will particularly negatively impact the elderly and the disabled.

  Everyone has family and friends in the community, and it’s likely that everyone will have someone you know be deeply harmed by this initiative. Aren’t we dealing with enough hardships in our daily life that we don’t need to create more?
  Wouldn’t it be better to stop this initiative and see it’s not viable now rather than go through and have the citizenry spend cumulatively an astronomical amount of money on these trash cans and put everyone through so much pain, only to have to reverse it later?

  Comment added August 6, 2024 10:27pm

• H. Rebecca Chan

  These bins cause more issues than for its beneficial purpose. Our property is directly in front of a major avenue’s bus stop. This would impede the passengers getting on/off the bus. The property only has 2 residential apartments that barely have any garbage to dispose. The lobby is too small for the bin’s storage and would block easy access for the residents, which is a fire safety hazard as well. If Sanitation picks up garbage timely on the scheduled dates, there would not be enough time for rats to break through the bags b/c we put the garbage on the curb very close to the intended pick up time to avoid rats and people going through the bags. The bin is not going to prevent people from rummaging through the garbage as well. So although we understand the City’s intentions, it does not help a small property like ours. Thank you for your time and consideration.

  Comment added August 6, 2024 10:39pm

• MEJ

  Using these large garbage containers will be difficult for me to move back and forth from the curb to my building, I am a 125 lb senior women of 80 years. Although the bins have rollers they are heavy when filled with garbage and difficult to roll. They can be stollen between the time garbage is picked up in the middle of the night when one is sleeping. Some sidewalks are too narrow for the bins to be placed on the outside of gates. This idea of large city bins will be another financial hardship for small Rent Stabilized building owners.

  Comment added August 6, 2024 10:46pm

• Andrea Castaldo

  If the DSNY would like building owners to use these rigid containers with attached lids then the City should incur that cost not the builidng owners. As an owner of a 7 apartment building, our expenses seems to always increase. Imposing such restrictions on building owners will create a hardship and honestly I don’t think that will elevate the issue. We have trash receptacles all over Manhattan and the boroughs and there is trash and garbage left all over. People are dumping and the DSNY needs to worry about cleaning up the areas that the City are responsible for. They need to work on taking care of their responsibilities before then impose these restrictions.

  Comment added August 7, 2024 8:58am

• Robert Alfano

  I am the owner/manager of a 6 family in Brooklyn. The building is on Coney Island Ave. It is attached on both sides as is every other building on the block. This law would force me to install some type of containment shed for at least 5 of these pails in the front of the building. (Recycling and regular trash.) An ugly sight. Imagine the scene when the trash is picked up. Every building will have a minimum of 4 pails and maybe 6 in front of their building. Imagine that picture as every building qualifies for that program. Currently when sanitation removes the trash bags, the sidewalk is 100% clear. Imagine Possibly 100-120 empty trash bins on one city block scattered all over the sidewalk. What would come next? Tickets for not removing the pails from the curb in a timely fashion? Tickets for blocked sidewalks? The tenant removing the trash from the courtyard does so at 12am when he returns from work. Imagine rolling 5 containers through the halls to get to the front of the building at that hour. Now it is done very quietly with the bags being carried. The implementation of this policy will create an unsightly mess on the block. Also, I do repairs on the property myself. What about the debris? Now it is bagged and put at the curb. If I put it in the pail, now will sanitation refuse to empty the pail becuase it is too heavy? If I leave debris in a black bag, it is not an attraction for rats or rodents. Why must it be put in a container? Also, there is the parking problem. When you have cars parked tightly together how far will sanitation roll a container to get it to a truck? Will these containers even be mandated to have wheels? if not it will only be worse. Now if there is tight parking, sanitation simply pick up the bags over the cars and slip in between them. This is another bad policy and another way to overregulate building owners. Believe me, somehow sanitation tickets will be flying out of their books for the regulations that will come with these trash bins.

  Comment added August 7, 2024 10:00am

• Agnes Shepanzyk

  These new rules are getting out of control. If the city wishes us to have these items they should provide there for us for free and a higher tax credit for hiring staff to work overtime and place trash out after house. Most buildings are mom and pop and these new laws can cripple someone who is trying to make a living.

  Another option, have the trash collectors walk the extra 4 feet and take bins from the side of a building !

  Comment added August 7, 2024 10:03am

• Doug Pirnie

  I am President of our 5-unit coop on the Upper West Side. The dimensions of the required NYC trash bins are too big for the space we have for our garbage containers.
  I would like a waiver to find a trash container with a latched top that will fit in the space we have. What is the process for obtaining the waiver?
  Please advise.

  Comment added August 7, 2024 10:06am

• Sanitation--Senior Citizen-one family owner occupied house

  Wed. 8/7/24-I am a Senior Citizen & own a small one family OWNER OCCUPIED house. I already have Rubbermaid Anti-Raccoon garbage cans & paper cans & glass/metal cans (many are still brand new). Why can’t you “grandfather-in” all one family homeowners? We should NOT be “lumped-in” with apartment houses or landlord multi-family houses. We have been following the law all along. We cannot “pass along” any trash can expenses to others. Can we CONTINUE to use just our regular garbage cans instead of the $50–plus tax & shipping for each “new” garbage can by a N.C. Otto company with a 20 yr deal with NYC gov’t? That Otto company’s phone # reaches the Philippines & those people hang up on you if they don’t want to hear your questions. The Otto garbage can company does NOT give you a tracking #. These unnecessary costs for a whole batch of more garbage cans is a tremendous burden on one family Senior Citizen homeowners. The Sanitation Dept used to give out FREE garbage cans. It is not fair & not right to attempt to impose this additional financial burden on us. Has NYC become a dictatorship? We have raccoons, stray cats & opossum in our neighborhood. The Rubbermaid anti-raccoon cans work 100%. Problems with your proposed cans: WHEELS–raccoons jump on top & “rock” the cans so they fall down because of the wheels being unstable; black color of the trash cans-unable to write your address on the sides of the can & also on the top lid (especially if the top lid has ridges & is not totally flat); the basic trash can should be a light beige color so your address is able to be seen; higher $$$ prices (even higher than the cost of the Rubbermaid anti-raccoon cans or our paper & metal/glass cans); everyone would be forced to buy 2-3 black cans, plus 1-2 green paper cans & 1 blue metal/glass can. What happens if there is a holiday & nothing is collected until the next week’s recycle day or the garbage men have a strike & nothing is picked up? This has happened! What happens if you run out of cans? Can you use your current cans to supplement or do you have to resort to black plastic bags for regular trash or see through or white plastic bags for recycling trash? This is a tremendous burden for Senior Citizens who own a one family owner occupied house. What about a Senior Citizen discount? This was obviously not even thought about! What happens when the Sanitation men bounce or throw these cans back down–the wheels will fall off & the lid will crack & break off–then what? Who pays for broken cans or stolen cans? The basic problem is that the people in charge of this terrible & not thought out properly idea live in Manhattan apartments (or in apartments in other boroughs) with building supers or servants taking care of all garbage cans. “Do as I say, not as I do.” NO DAY TO DAY REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE. This is like Marie Antoinette saying “Let them eat cake” to starving people. We are NOT multi-millionaires. This is a genuine hardship for owner occupied one family Senior Citizen homeowners. The added cost is enormous. We hope that this is NOT just a “Kangaroo Court” formality & that cooler heads prevail on this horrible DRACONIAN EDICT. Remember–one shoe size does NOT fit all people & this idea (by apartment renters/dwellers) should NOT be applicable at all to one family owner occupied houses at all! Please change your views & remember that your decision will have an adverse impact on New Yorkers. SHAME ON YOU.

  Comment added August 7, 2024 10:24am

• Kevin

  This would be a major quality of life improvement for all New Yorkers. Every garbage day walking space is severely limited due to garbage taking up the majority of the sidewalk. In addition it would increase efficient of garbage pickup, as workers would not have to squeeze through parked cars to get the garbage.

  Comment added August 7, 2024 11:14am

• JKT

  This is a well-intentioned rule but the provision and maintenance of these receptacles should fall on the city, not residents and landlords. More importantly, the receptacles should be larger and permanently affixed in the street, next to the curb, as currently being piloted in Harlem.

  Comment added August 7, 2024 11:43am

• Joseph Graham Rapier

  Cities across the US have found ways to use containerized waste bins to improve city services, protect sanitation workers, and provide better service more efficiently.
  I look forward to cleaner streets, fewer rats, and lugging fewer smelly bags of trash to the curb by hand.
  Please ensure the rollout of this program continues full speed ahead in all neighborhoods. It’s time to catch up with the rest of the world and leave behind the “new york is different” mindset that keeps us in the past.

  Comment added August 7, 2024 12:06pm

• Erica

  We own a small six unit apt building on a corner with a MTA bus stop a half a block away. Having to line up multiple trash bins would be a great obstacle to pedestrians especially when collected and lids and cans overturned.
  Parked cars are always in front of the building so I don’t see how sanitation workers are going to carry bins over the cars and put them back nicely with the lids on. In other cities, I have seen lids that are attached to the bins and are picked up by special trucks equipped to lift the bins over into the truck.
  I don’t believe any politician was thinking about how to implement this idea which cannot work in NYC since each building is so different and will only put the burden of financial hardship due to theft and staffing on the owners. We don’t have a rat problem and the black bags we line our bins with now just get carried to the corner. The City should first do a PILOT
  run on a certain areas to see if this can work before they charge owners
  fees for what we know will only create new problems.

  Comment added August 7, 2024 3:59pm

• Louis Greco

  We have used these containers for years but putting the out on the street has resulted in both theft of the containers and also on numerous occasions We have received violations because they will be overturned during the night and rubbish is all over the street. We live in a heavy rate infested location, and we control them by using approved extermination practices and extra strong plastic garbage bags. The new rules will place extraordinary unnecessary expense on our small condominium.

  Comment added August 7, 2024 5:45pm

• Elizabeth Denys

  I support this rule change because it’s good to replace trash bags with containers with tight lids as it will help keep the area around the trash cleaner and make it harder for rats to feed off garbage.

  That said, additional changes and recommendations should be made to allow and encourage garbage to be put in the curb lane adjacent to side walks instead of these new bins continuing to live on the sidewalks. Bins will likely need to be stored outside 24/7, not just during pickup, and the street is the most equitable place to put it. This ensures sidewalks are kept clear for people walking, people pushing strollers, and people using mobility devices. This also would make it possible that these bins could be serviced by DSNY’s side-loading trucks.

  Comment added August 7, 2024 8:17pm

• Franklin lowe

  1. The mandated containers are not available at this time .
  2.Vermin repellant trash bags are commercially available and biodegradable plastics also exist.
  3.Currently containers for small buildings with fewer than 9 apt.are secured to the front railing so as not to be stollen which has occurred numerous times over the years.
  4.containers not secured to the building will simply blow away at every gust of wind during inclement weather and present a huge nuisance to property owners and a hazard to pedestrians and other users of public spaces.
  5. In the era of the metal cans commonly used some thirty plus the years ago the sanitation workers simply dumped the contents of the can into the compactor truck and tossed the empties back on the sidewalk creating congestion and noise pollution .plastic bags solved the problem of noise and the congestion caused by cans strewn about the street scape .
  The best solution to can clutter on the sidewalks post pick up is vermin repellent bio-degradable plastic bags
  And prompt pickup

  Comment added August 7, 2024 9:37pm

• 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 work with community organizations, nonprofits, and municipalities to provide thought leadership to ensure policies and systems are aligned for circularity. We thank the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) for this opportunity to comment on their proposed rule relating to the use of rigid receptacles for trash from 1-9 unit buildings.

  I led the development of the Zero Waste Design Guidelines, which involved collaboration with city agencies, architects, building managers and waste experts, and showed how waste containerization could help the city reach its zero waste goals, and improve labor and streetscapes as well.

  So we fully support DSNY’s goals to get rid of bags of trash piled up on sidewalks and instead move to a system where waste is collected from bins and containers by mechanized trucks. But we have strong concerns about the way DSNY is moving forward with waste containerization, without any outside stakeholder input, or likely even meaningful dialog with other city agencies and mayor’s office appointments, given that the way waste containerization is moving forward goes against their goals of improving pedestrian mobility and the quality of the public realm. It also works against the city’s goals of waste and greenhouse gas emission reductions.

  As architects and urban planners we are well aware of the space and access limitations of small buildings, and we know that this rule will result in sidewalks crowded with bins. Many retail businesses in small or mid-sized buildings are already struggling; blocking their storefronts with trash bins will just make things worse. While detached 1-2 unit buildings can easily use 2-wheeled bins, shared containers in the street are a much better solution for 1-9 unit attached buildings, see our 2 pager which illustrates why.

  Our concerns include:

  Lack of stakeholder or public engagement:
  There has been no outreach to stakeholders – not to waste advocates, BIDs, public space advocates or elected officials to allow input into the rule. The contract for manufacturing the bins has been awarded and the bins have been made available for sale before the public hearing has been held. We are concerned that the same lack of consultation will happen for the larger 10-30 unit and 31+ unit buildings, where again we believe there are much better solutions than those DSNY are proposing, see our recommendations for large buildings here.

  Negative impact on recycling targets and zero waste goals:
  Requiring bins only for trash, and not for recycling or organic waste, will impact the city’s already declining recycling rates, and will not support the city’s upcoming citywide mandatory compostable waste rules. Having “equal convenience disposal” with bins for trash, recycling and organics alongside each other was a key recommendation in the Zero Waste Design Guidelines because it has been shown to increase recycling rates. DSNY were involved in the development of the Guidelines and noted that NYC building code was changed by the Green Code Task Force RC2 to require recycling bins to be located alongside trash bins/ chutes in large buildings for this reason (implemented by LL60 of 2012). If a building has a trash bin available for residents on its sidewalk, but not recycling or organics bins, many residents will think “my building doesn’t recycle” and not bother to separate their waste.

  Negative impact on streetscapes and pedestrian mobility
  Many of the 1-9 unit attached buildings have no space to store bins inside, or have stairs which are difficult to move bins up and down. Because of this, bins will need to be stored permanently on the sidewalk, which DSNY is allowing in the 3’ zone adjacent to the building wall. These bins will block pedestrian traffic along sidewalks. Given that almost half of NYC has sidewalk widths below 9 feet wide, per Open Street data – and the growing crowdedness of NYC sidewalks in general, the reduction in walkability and accessibility is unacceptable. While the rule allows for waivers, the number of waivers that will be required is impractical for DSNY to review and grant, and it will likely be a hardship for under-resourced buildings to apply for the waiver.

  Reduced retail activity due to unpleasant shopping and dining experiences
  Nearly 20% of 1-9 unit attached buildings citywide have storefronts on the ground floor, so the bins can’t be stored inside. This increases to 40% in Manhattan. In almost all of these buildings there is no space to store bins, as the storefront occupies the ground floor and basement, and there is just a narrow stair going up to the residences above. Bins are not allowed to block the clear egress path per NYC fire code. This will mean the bins need to be permanently stored on the sidewalk, in front of the storefront. An 8 unit building could easily have 8 bins in front of the storefront (for residential and commercial trash), reducing visibility of merchandise and degrading the retail experience. It also blocks the space which could be used for outdoor sidewalk dining.
  Does not improve worker safety and ergonomics
  The required NYC trash bin is 45 gallons, so it can still be lifted by hand by DSNY workers. While DSNY say they will add a lift to the back of their rear load trucks, this will likely only lift one bin at a time, and since that bin is small, it will not be very efficient and likely won’t be used. (I have asked DSNY what type of lift they will be installing but they have declined to respond) DSNY tried using a lift many years ago for small organics bins, and DSNY workers didn’t like using it as it was quicker to throw the contents in by hand. If instead DSNY committed to semi-automated collection, like that used in Europe, the trucks would be able to quickly lift two 64 or 96 gallon 2-wheeled bins or one 4-wheeled bin at a time, improving efficiency, ergonomics and reducing the storage space required. 1-2 unit detached or semi-detached homes could use these larger 2 wheeled bins, and collection frequency could be reduced, allowing more frequent collection in higher density neighborhoods.

  Many buildings already have bins which must be thrown away and replaced
  Given that many buildings already have bins under 55 gallons, with lids, and DSNY are lifting them by hand (or lifting the bags out of them) it seems a waste to require building owners to throw them away just to replace them with a very similar standard NYC bin. Some of these bins may even be exactly the same type.

  Impedes better uses for front yards, including impervious areas for stormwater infiltration, and compromises many basement apartments.
  The need to place bins in front yards of attached buildings leads to front yards being paved to place bins on. If waste containers were in the street, front yards could have gardens within them, allowing stormwater to infiltrate into the ground, increasing urban greening and cooling, and improving the quality of life of the streetscape. Many times basement apartments are not as valuable, or sometimes not rented out, because their windows are blocked by trash bins.

  See more on our suggestions for how waste containerization should be integrated into streetscapes for small buildings in this 2 pager here, for large buildings here, see our Vital City article here, or our video about Vanderbilt Avenue Brooklyn here.

  We would welcome the opportunity to discuss our suggestions with DSNY and help improve the outcomes of waste containerization citywide.

  Please see uploaded pdf file for links to further information

  Clare Miflin
  Executive Director
  Center for Zero Waste Design

  Comment attachment
  240808-DSNY-bins-hearing-CfZWD-testimony-written-submitted.pdf

  Comment added August 7, 2024 10:19pm

• Ann Korchak

  Good morning. My name is Ann Korchak, and I help manage two small apartment buildings on the Upper West Side that have been in my husband’s family for decades. I also serve as the Board President of Small Property Owners of NY (SPONY).

  Our organization would have welcomed the opportunity to provide input to the Department of Sanitation prior to the city implementing this new trash containerizing policy. We are precisely the individuals the agency, elected officials, and staff should have consulted before rolling out such a plan. Since we were not given that opportunity, we cannot take an official position as an organization, so I am speaking on behalf of my own family.

  As small building owners, we are directly engaged with the challenges of trash management on a daily basis. We are well-acquainted with:

  The difficulties of finding adequate space to store trash cans.
  The challenges of ensuring tenants adhere to sorting rules.
  The financial burden of sanitation fines.
  The stress of dealing with rodent problems as we manage our buildings’ waste.
  Had we been consulted before this policy was finalized, we would have shared that each building and street in the city has its own unique challenges. For example, one of my buildings has adequate space for storing trash cans but limited curb space due to a tree planted by the city last year and the removal of two slabs of concrete. This significantly restricts the number of cans I can place at the curb for pickup.

  At another building, we invested in a custom-built steel trash container designed to house our existing trash cans. The dimensions of this bin do not accommodate the new cans mandated by the city, forcing us to undertake an expensive removal and replacement process—resources we would prefer to allocate to other building maintenance needs.

  Have officials considered the expense and difficulties small property owners will face in complying with these new regulations? I anticipate that my cans will be stolen, leading to additional costs for replacements. While waiting for these replacements, I risk receiving sanitation fines for using non-compliant cans or plastic bags.

  While I commend the city’s goal of combating rats, I suggest initiating pilot programs in various areas to address potential issues before a city-wide implementation. Additionally, I recommend returning to a more frequent collection schedule. Historically, my husband’s grandfather managed our buildings’ trash five days a week. Given the volume of waste produced by my tenants, more frequent pickups would significantly aid in tackling the city’s rat problems.

  Thank you for considering these perspectives.

  Comment added August 7, 2024 10:47pm

• Leticia Jacquet

  I am all for making the city clean, but to be honest we have had this problem for years. We have had bins placed out on the street with the same problem. What I am seeing is a way for the company you contracted to make money, more violations/ tickets and the opportunity for thefts because even if we chain the cans up, the opportunity for bins to be stolen will be after the cans have been emptied. Not all landlords live on the property to place the bins back. When these get stolen and which I have already seen and heard of happening how will the city replace these bins? We also purchased bins however not from the sight. Will this incur a fee? When will we see laws that help both landlord and Tents benefit.

  Comment added August 8, 2024 6:32am

• SHEILA SZCZEPANIAK

  We are landlords of a small (8) unit building and though I commend the city in their desire to address the rat problem this mandatory trash receptacle proposal for small buildings fails to address, and even scoffs at, the space and cost issues that are real hindrances to small buildings trying to provide affordable housing.

  If the city is truly interested in combating the rat issue and working to keep housing costs down then these trash receptacles and all replacements should be FREE to housing units and NO FINES should be imposed upon landlords for failing to place and remove these receptacles at a designated hour. To do anything else is being disingenuous to the citizens of NYC, claiming on the one hand to be working to lower housing costs while with the other hand adding to the costs with onerous fined regulations.

  By FREELY providing these receptacles the city is fulfilling its obligation to combat the rat issue and its public health implications while simultaneously fulfilling its obligation to keep housing affordable.
  MAKE THE TRASH RECEPTACLES FREE AND PLACEMENT AND REMOVAL UNFINED.

  Comment added August 8, 2024 8:19am

• Mr. Williams

  My home does not have anywhere to store these large bins.

  Comment added August 8, 2024 10:01am

• Rebecca Poole - Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums (CNYC Inc.)

  The Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums (CNYC Inc.) is a not-for-profit membership organization providing information, education and advocacy for housing cooperatives and condominiums located throughout New York City’s five boroughs. More than 600,000 families currently make their homes in New York City’s cooperatives and condominiums, which include many buildings of nine units and less. For the shareholders and unit owners living in these smaller cooperatives and condominiums, purchasing a co-op or condo is often the only pathway to homeownership and the benefits it brings. Without the economy of scale enjoyed by larger buildings, the increase in housing costs tends to hit this population even harder. A large percentage of the buildings are self-managed and/or employ very limited staff, leaving the resident owners to perform much of the work themselves.

  While the DSNY’s proposed regulations to containerize garbage are certainly well intentioned – reducing the rat population and debris on City streets are both important quality of life issues – our members are concerned that the newly designed requirements have not taken potential problems into account.

  (1) Many smaller cooperatives and condominiums have permanent garbage containing structures on the outside of their buildings to make trash removal easier for their homeowner residents. Many of the structures do not accommodate the new required bins due to their style and size. Removing and replacing the structures imposes an unnecessary additional cost on shareholders / unit owners already struggling with the increases in housing costs.

  (2) Most smaller cooperatives and condominiums do not have room within the building’s common areas to store the number of bins that would be required. For those that could store them in backyards / internal courtyards, removing the bin from the backyard / courtyard to the street, and then returning it, frequently requires navigating narrow steps. This would be onerous, particularly if it falls to older residents.

  (3) Without a live in super there many not be any resident available to bring bins back into the building for many hours after garbage collection. Theft and/or destruction seems highly likely, bringing yet more unnecessary ongoing costs. Further, having bins sit out on the sidewalk for an extended period of time every day will be an inconvenience and eyesore.

  (4) The suggested automated pick-up will be difficult in many areas of the City, where bike racks, bike lanes, parked cars, and more impeded access to sidewalks. This makes the requirement that co-ops and condos purchase these newly designed specific containers of a questionable benefit.

  (5) The difficulty involved in compliance will undoubtedly contribute to many co-operatives and condominiums unnecessarily being hit with the newly proposed and increased fines.

  We highly recommend that should the Department require all buildings 9 units and less to containerize their trash, buildings be allowed to independently choose containers that work for their buildings, and that these smaller buildings also be given the option of utilizing the larger metal containers (currently proposed) of nearby larger buildings, or be allowed to request such a container as an aggregated group.

  Thank you for your consideration.

  Comment added August 8, 2024 10:02am

• Molly Golly

  I am disabled and elderly. Due to landmark requirements, my trash storage area is below street level. and is accessed via stairs. It is hard enough to bring trash bags to the street, now I have to cary bins up to the street level? Will your staff help me bring this up?

  Comment added August 8, 2024 10:15am

• Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso

  See attached

  Comment attachment
  BP-Reynoso_DSNY-Rules-hearing-8.8.24-final.pdf

  Comment added August 8, 2024 10:20am

• Maxine DeSeta

  Another land grab of curb space that is desperately needed for residents and workers who can not afford $700 garage space. No public lite rail alternatives on our highways and tunnels. The city just wants to reduce more curb space compliments of the Transportation Alternatives propaganda lobby for Uber, Lyft and private carshare companies, helping the middle class to flee.

  Comment added August 8, 2024 11:29am

• Allison Allen

  I’m concerned by the efforts to containerize waste while ignoring the importance and opportunities to reduce waste set on the curb FIRST. It’s clear from many small building owners that this is going to be a hardship to manage and secure containers. It is unclear what public input has been collected and considered by the administration as part of establishing this new rule – other than today’s rules hearing which seems to be just a formality after the decisions have been made without adequate public input. Was the fire department consulted? I have to think placement of these new containers will present a significant fire hazard when kept inside some buildings. It will also be a hardship for anyone with a handicap to navigate around all these new bins.

  Just as important, if we had effective programs to divert just two categories of waste – organic food/plant waste and textiles – we would reduce exported waste by approximately 50%! Buildings would need fewer containers for trash since starting October 6 (just 1 month before containerization starts), mandatory organics collection will be expanded city wide, requiring a separate container for organic waste. But the curbside organics program/container is stunningly rarely, if ever, mentioned as part of containerizing waste or the war on rats. Once people start diverting their food waste from trash, they may find they need to buy fewer or smaller bins for trash. The city has put the cart before the horse and not helping New Yorkers make this connection.

  There has been no mention of mandatory organics collection as part of the outreach I have seen to date on the overall containerization requirement and I follow this issue closely as a volunteer member of MSWAB. A serious missed opportunity to leverage the budget and collateral materials developed in support of containerization (as well as rat mitigation), to promote mandatory curbside “composting” which suffers from an inadequate budget and plan for outreach and education.

  Not to mention the recent press conference the Mayor held to announce the new NYC wheelie bins. I’m not sure if this is a deliberate, intentional omission or if the administration has simply overlooked that Queens and Brooklyn are already required to have containers (and supplied free wheelie brown bins) for diverting food scraps/rat food NOW. It was only Assembly Member Jennifer Rajkumar who actually referenced at the press conference that rat sightings are down in her district due to the curbside “composting” program.

  Every time waste containers are mentioned by any elected or appointed official, so should brown bin containers for diverting food waste/rat food. Every time rats are mentioned, curbside organics collection in rat proof brown bins should also be mentioned. These 3 programs – waste containerization, rat mitigation and curbside “composting” – must work in tandem. It’s that simple and much needed, as the low levels of participation in organics collection in Queens and Brooklyn are proving.

  Thank you for your consideration.

  Comment added August 8, 2024 11:42am

• Annette

  This is not a solution to vermin issue but actually creates more problems. Many landlords don’t have the capacity to store excessive amounts of trash cans, this might cause a holdover of trash in buildings which will further contribute to vermin problem.
  The trash cans can be damaged and broken by sanitation, trash cans can be stolen, passerby’s might throw out recyclable items in the trash(bottles). This just creates more problems for everyone.

  Comment added August 8, 2024 12:45pm

• Jim Wright

  See attached statemen

  Comment attachment
  JW-Statement-on-DSNY-Rules-for-Residentail-Waste-Containerization-08-08-2024.pdf

  Comment added August 8, 2024 2:30pm

• Christine berthet

  CHEKPEDS , a non profit for pedestrian safety and rights was founded in 2005.
  While we are 100% in favor of making our city cleaner, the immense negative impact of the cumulative regulations on the pedestrian clear path cannot be dismissed and should be addressed. After all, 8 million pedestrians that come in close contact once or twice a day with trash bags and cans.

  Here are some recommendations
  1- include a rule for placement of the receptacles that maintains the clear path requirements specified in the DOT. Pedestrian mobility framework . Add a fine for non compliance.
  2- explicitly allow trash containers to be put out in the roadway.
  3 continue to require that containers be stored inside buildings when not in use. As is the case with garbage bags. The recently permitted use of sidewalk for permanent storage of commercial containers is not sustainable, with large numbers of containers obstructing pedestrian path.

  This second suggestion is particularly relevant to sanitation workers who will be unable to lift the containers over tightly parked cars.

  Finally picking up hundreds of containers on each block, instead of a few shared containers strategically placed – as most other cities and countries do successfully- seems to go against easier working conditions for the staff, and progress toward the future for the city.

  Comment added August 8, 2024 5:48pm

• Scott Weinstein

  Looking forward to improved trash management in the city. Strongly request that these new containerized trash systems be placed _into_ the street. The sidewalks are already terribly crowded. Placing the bins in the sidewalk will inconvenience _everyone_. Placing bins into the street will (somewhat) inconvenience car owners.

  Comment added August 8, 2024 7:20pm