To Fight Rats, NYC Restaurants Will Have to Put Trash in Containers

Aug 19, 2023

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By Emma G. Fitzsimmons

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In the latest front in New York City's fight against the proliferation of trash and rats, city officials plan to require restaurants and bodegas to set out trash in containers instead of bags.

The rule, which will be formally proposed on Thursday, could apply to 40,000 food-related businesses — roughly 20 percent of businesses in the city — covering "everything from Dunkin’ Donuts to Tavern on the Green," the city's sanitation commissioner, Jessica Tisch, said in an interview.

The move would address one of New York's ubiquitous, age-old eyesores: the heaps of smelly trash bags filled with restaurant food scraps and liquids that remain at curbside for hours at night, providing easy targets for rats until commercial haulers arrive.

"We want people to understand that bags on the street attract rats, and we need everyone to do their part — residents, businesses and the city — to get the black bags of rat food off the streets," Ms. Tisch said.

The rule would apply to a wide range of businesses that produce most of the city's food waste: catering companies, food manufacturers, restaurants, food wholesalers and retail food stores. They would be required to put trash at the curb in "rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids."

The new rule is part of the city's broader plan to move trash into containers, a simple yet revolutionary change in New Yorkers’ trash habits. To do so could easily cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade. City officials must buy new specialized trash trucks and stationary containers, while also increasing the frequency of residential trash collection in large swaths of the city.

Other cities like Barcelona, Buenos Aires and Singapore have already embraced trash containerization.

New York City is notorious for allowing towers of foul-smelling trash bags to line the streets. Currently, many restaurants and bodegas set trash out in bags at 8 p.m., and they can sit there for hours before private carting companies take them away.

Mayor Eric Adams's new rat czar, Kathleen Corradi, said last month that she would focus on reducing the presence of food waste, a move that scientists say would do the most to control the rat population.

Earlier this month, the Adams administration announced an ambitious plan to move toward containerization.

City officials found that it was possible to use trash containers on 89 percent of the city's residential streets, but it would require removing 150,000 parking spots — more spots than were taken for outdoor dining or the city's popular bike-share program.

To test out the idea, the city is starting a new pilot program this fall in West Harlem that will install large shared trash containers in parking spots on up to 10 residential blocks and at more than a dozen schools.

The Sanitation Department will hold a public hearing on June 22 about the proposal for food-related businesses to use containers. The rule could take effect as early as July.

Emma G. Fitzsimmons is the City Hall bureau chief, covering politics in New York City. She previously covered the transit beat and breaking news. @emmagf

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