New York City sanitation officials are hoping that new rules for when residents can take out their trash will help rid the city's nickname as "Trash City" and finally take care of that rat problem.
On April 1, New Yorkers will not be able to put trash bags on the sidewalks before 8 p.m., with a few exceptions. The city accompanied the announcement with flyers stating the rule changes will "send rats packing." The mailer showed a photo of a rat toting a wheeled suitcase.
"From my perspective, this change in set out times is at least a decade overdue," Sanitation Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a City Council hearing on March 16. "We New Yorkers – businesses and residences – put out about 45 million pounds of trash and recycling every day. And it sits on our curbs on every block in every neighborhood for 14 hours a day. And that is why New York City is known as ‘Trash City.’"
NYC PLAGUED WITH LARGE INCREASE IN RAT SIGHTINGS: REPORT
Mayor Eric Adams agreed that the current trash policy, in place since 1969, was outdated.
"It makes no sense that these garbage bags remain on the streets for such a long period of time," the mayor said in his fall announcement.
"Our new waste setout times will cut back on the amount of time trash lingers on the curb during the day + cut off the all-you-can-eat buffet for rats," the mayor's office's Twitter account tweeted on Thursday. "Help us #GetStuffClean and learn about the new rules that go into effect THIS Saturday."
GIANT RATS OVERTAKING NYC'S CENTRAL PARK, UPPER WEST SIDE OF MANHATTAN
"As Commissioner Jessica Tisch noted in this announcement last fall, piles of black trash bags have been robbing us of clean and usable public space for more than 50 years," Vincent Gragnani, press secretary for the NYC Department of Sanitation, told Fox News Digital.
"This change will have a huge impact on our streets, and it is long overdue. As the Commissioner also noted last fall: ‘We at the Department of Sanitation are not just asking New Yorkers to change. We are changing too. We are doing way more collection on the midnight shift rather than the 6 a.m. shift. Approximately 25 percent of all of our collection now happens at midnight.’ That’s 5 million pounds of trash collected on our midnight shift instead of the 6 am shift."
To help give large buildings an extra option, Gragnani said they have an opt-in period where they could apply for a 4 a.m.-7 a.m. set-out period. Buildings with nine or more units are able to apply during the month of January every year, and must be vetted and accepted into the program.
NEW YORK CITY HIRING NEW ‘RAT CZAR’ TO HELP WITH CITY'S LONG-RUNNING BATTLE AGAINST RODENTS
Residents who have trash cans with secured lids will be permitted to put bins at the curb as early as 6 p.m. And owners of businesses that close before 8 p.m. can put garbage cans with lids on sidewalks up to an hour before closing.
But some New Yorkers are skeptical.
"Rats are getting a later curfew!" Julio Peña III, District Leader for NYS Assembly District 51, tweeted of the news.
Pinny Gestetner, an executive of BSM Facility Solutions, explained his hesitations.
"The problem is not that [the garbage bags are] laying on the curb," he said, The Gothamist reported. "The problem is that [the rats] are coming out at night, exactly the time that the garbage needs to be placed out now."
Violators will receive written warnings after a one-month grace period, officials said. But $50 fines will eventually be given out for first offenses, $100 for the second offense and $200 for any further offenses.
Adams has appeared to make tackling the rat problem a main priority, with rat sightings up 142% since before the pandemic, according to city officials. He announced that the city was looking to hire a "rat czar" who would be paid up to $170,000, with the title of the Citywide Director of Rodent Mitigation.
In November, the mayor signed legislation called the Rat Action Plan.
