NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- New York City will require low-density residential buildings to put trash in containers starting this fall, Mayor Eric Adams and the Department of Sanitation announced Monday.
The new container rule—the first impacting residences—would require properties with one to nine units to place trash in containers, instead of directly on the sidewalk in bags. The proposed start date is Nov. 12.
The city is selling official "NYC Bins" to homeowners and landlords for about $50 online.
"These are durable, they are attractive, and New York affordable," Adams said outside Gracie Mansion on Monday.
In addition to the residential buildings, the Nov. 12 rule would also impact special use buildings that receive Sanitation Department collection, including city agency buildings, houses of worship, and professional offices located within residential buildings.
According to officials, the change would make 70% of all trash in the city containerized, amounting to 10 billion pounds of trash out of 14 billion pounds put out annually in the five boroughs.
"To bring dignity and order back to every street, every neighborhood and every borough, we need to start by getting rid of the black bags of trash," said sanitation commissioner Jessica Tisch.
According to Tisch, 95% of the city's 765,000 residential buildings have fewer than nine units. About half of them are single-family homes, many of which already use bins.
Homeowners and landlords who already use trash bins can continue to use them until June 2026, when use of the official NYC Bin will become mandatory to "facilitate safer, faster and cleaner collection," Tisch said.
The city is also planning to expand the requirement to residential buildings with 10 or more units starting in the spring of 2025. Buildings with 10 to 30 units will be required to use smaller wheelie bins or stationary, on-street containers. Those with 31 or more units will be required to use the stationary, on-street containers.
The effort is part of a "Trash Revolution" underway by the Adams administration. It started in October 2022, when the city pushed trash set-out times to 8 p.m. to discourage rats. Last summer, containerization requirements went into effect for all food-related businesses—a rule that was extended to all businesses in the city this past March.