Residential Bins Coming to NYC Streets in Mayor’s War Against “24-Hour Rat Buffet”

NYC has unveiled new residential bins to combat street trash and the “24-hour rat buffet.” Starting November 2024, small buildings must use the official lidded containers.

Officials unveiled the “NYC Bin” — the first city-endorsed trash container — at a press conference outside Gracie Mansion on Monday. Mayor Eric Adams and Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch demonstrated how to use the bins by stuffing a bag of garbage. “We are only catching up to what other municipalities around the globe are currently doing,” said Adams.

The NYC Bin will eventually be required for all small residential buildings with nine or fewer units. The push for containerization has gained momentum under Tisch, who has asserted it is our best defense against the city’s rat population. As of March 1, all commercial businesses are required to put their trash in lidded bins . The Department of Sanitation (DSNY) will require the use of lidded bins for small residential buildings throughout the city, effective November 12, 2024.

Small residential buildings already using similar trash containers will have a grace period of 19 months before the purchase and use of the official NYC Bins are required on June 1, 2026.

In addition to the small residential buildings, the proposed rule will also require all “special use” buildings that receive DSNY collection, such as city agency buildings, houses of worship and professional offices located within residential buildings, to put their trash in containers.

This aspect of the rule change may have the greatest impact on Hell’s Kitchen, given the concentration of schools that often put out very large piles of garbage on our sidewalks. Recently, bags were left piled on W49th Street for days following the Juneteenth holiday. Local business owners saw people rummaging through them for usable items as they awaited collection by DSNY, leaving a mess of loose trash once the bags were finally collected.

With a price tag starting at $46 for 35 gallon and $53 for 45 gallon bins, the NYC Bins are considerably cheaper than similar items available on the market such as this 35 gallon “garbage man ready” bin from ULINE priced at $100. Produced via a partnership with Otto Environmental Systems, bins are available for purchase starting today .

Though not required to be used for recycling, the city will offer both green and blue recycling bins as well for property owners or managers who prefer to have matched sets of bins. DSNY advises that online bin orders should be placed by October 1 to guarantee delivery before the requirement goes into effect on November 12.

A warning period will extend through the end of 2024 before buildings are fined for not using bins for their trash with summons issued from January 2, 2025. The first offense for not using a secure bin of 55 gallons or less is $50, followed by $100 for the second offense and $200 for the third offense and each thereafter.

It is unclear how DSNY enforcement agents will know whether or not the building is covered by the new rule, especially considering Hell’s Kitchen walk-ups have a varying number of units from building to building and block to block.

New York’s city-appointed “Rat Czar” Kathleen Corradi said in the announcement: “With this next step in DSNY’s ‘Trash Revolution,’ NYC continues its efforts to systematically deny rats a curbside buffet and get black bags off our streets.”

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