The era of plastic trash bags spilling onto New York City’s streets and sidewalks may finally be nearing its end. In a move aimed at curbing the city’s notorious rat problem and improving street conditions, the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) will soon require residential buildings to leave their trash in sealed bins designed to keep garbage in, and keep rats out. This approach is known as trash containerization, and is a common practice in most major cities around the world.
Soon, the rancid smell of trash on a hot day, mysterious liquids oozing out of ripped garbage bags, and hordes of rats feasting on dinner scraps may all become a distant memory for New Yorkers. But to turn this vision of a clean, rodent-free city into a reality, the City will need to convince residents to get on board, and develop creative solutions for several operational challenges that will make scaling containerization citywide difficult.
Background: How the Rats Came to Run the City
In 2020, rat sightings surged across the city as pandemic-related budget cuts led to reductions in sanitation services such as trash pick-up and street cleaning. At the same time, social distancing requirements gave rise to outdoor dining, which further contributed to increases in food and waste left on sidewalks and streets.
Enticed by the abundance of new food sources, New York City’s rats took to the streets for a veritable buffet of food scraps, pet waste, and other pieces of refuse. Taking advantage of the ample food supply and the City’s diminished sanitation capabilities, the rat population across the five boroughs soared. The result — a staggering 47% increase in 311 complaints for rat and mouse sightings between 2020 and 2021. Increases in rodent sightings were particularly pronounced in Manhattan and Brooklyn, with 57% and 55% increases in 311 complaints during the same period, respectively.
When Mayor Eric Adams took office in 2022, he made controlling NYC’s rat population a key priority for his administration. At his direction, the city hired a “rat czar” to coordinate inter-agency rat control efforts, passed legislation requiring building owners to enhance pest management practices, hosted an Urban Rat Summit to share best practices for rodent control with delegations from cities across the country, and created “the Rat Pack” – a civilian led anti-rodent activist group trained to support the City’s rat mitigation efforts. Most recently, the New York City Council passed a local law requiring the city’s health department to begin deploying contraceptive pellets that would sterilize rats once consumed.
But the most effective weapon in Mayor Adam’s “War on Rats” has undoubtedly been DSNY’s waste containerization program. Dubbed “The Future of Trash” by DSNY and hailed as a major innovation, despite the fact that most global cities have been containerizing their trash for decades, the program aims to improve street conditions and reduce food sources for rats by requiring waste to be placed in sealed bins. Since mandating containerization of commercial waste from businesses like restaurants, grocery stores, and pharmacies in 2023, citywide rat sightings have started to decline – reversing the stubborn pandemic-era trend of increased sightings.
DSNY estimates that commercial waste accounts for roughly half of the city’s trash, with the other half coming from residential buildings. But before rolling out a citywide residential trash containerization program, DSNY is giving it a test run in a 10-block area in Hamilton Heights to prove its effectiveness — and the results are promising.
The Hamilton Heights Pilot Area is On-Track to See the Lowest Number of Rodent Sightings in 10 Years
For the pilot area, DSNY selected a 10-block zone in Manhattan from 143rd to 153rd street between Broadway and Amsterdam, and installed shared plastic bins with secure lids for residents and building owners to place trash in. DSNY also upped trash collection to six days a week, and had crews monitor and regularly clean the shared bins.
By analyzing 311 complaints for rat sightings and filtering for complaints made within the pilot area, the data shows that the implementation of waste containerization coincided with a significant decrease in rat and mouse sightings. While there is still over two months to go before 2024 is over — the pilot area is on track to see the lowest number of 311 complaints for rodents since 2013.
The success of the Hamilton Heights containerization program has encouraged DSNY to swiftly advance plans for residential trash containerization citywide — but not everyone will be using the same containers. Starting in November, residential buildings with 1–9 units will be required to use wheeled, 55-gallon bins that property owners will need to purchase from the City. Larger residential buildings with 31 or more units will use the same type of shared street bins currently being piloted in Hamilton Heights. DSNY has indicated that buildings with 10–30 units will be able to choose between stationary on-street containers and smaller wheelie bins. Trash containerization for these types of buildings (10+ units) won’t be implemented until Spring 2025 at the earliest.
Based on the data from the pilot program, and the well-documented benefits derived from trash containerization in other cities, it seems clear that citywide waste containerization will be key to further reducing rat populations and improving the cleanliness of our streets.
The Benefits Are Clear, but Implementation May Not Be Easy
Despite the early success of residential trash containerization, not everyone is on board. The shared trash containers being used in Hamilton Heights require permanent installation — and many New Yorkers aren’t willing to give up parking spaces (DSNY estimates that every 4 containers will eat up roughly 1.4 parking spots). Others remain unconvinced of the bins’ efficacy, and question whether they can actually move the needle on reducing the city’s rat population. Additionally, some property owners of 1–9 unit residential buildings have balked at the $55 price tag attached to the required NYC bin, although DSNY has argued that similar sized bins purchased through traditional retailers could cost up to $150.
Aside from some community pushback, DSNY has also flagged several operational challenges that will make scaling containerization citywide difficult. Lack of curb space in the densest areas of the city, and inclement weather like snowstorms and blizzards will add complexities to DSNY’s collections operations. Notably, trash pick-up for shared street containers will require the use of an entirely different type of garbage truck, creating the need for additional investment in DSNY’s fleet.
But despite these obstacles, DSNY estimates that containerization is viable in 89% of residential streets, and has repeatedly communicated its commitment to implementing containerization citywide. Whether this can be done remains a question — but from what we can see so far, New York City’s new “Future of Trash” looks bright.
The author of this piece, Joey Smith, can be reached at jts512@nyu.edu
The editor of this piece, Ally La Pinta, can be reached at aml9347@nyu.edu