New York’s tradition of piling trash bags curbside for pickup is going the way of the dinosaurs.
Starting Friday, all 200,000 businesses in the Big Apple will have to throw garbage bags into garbage bins, as communities across the county and around the world have long done.
This requirement represents the next phase of the city’s efforts to curb what Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has called a “round-the-clock rat buffet” of trash on sidewalks.
In August the city began requiring restaurants, convenience stores and bars to use a sturdy trash can with a secure lid, and the following month it expanded the requirement to chain stores.
Now every city business, including mom-and-pop shops, must comply. Then, in the fall, residential buildings with nine or fewer residential units will fall under the mandate.
Commercial waste makes up nearly half of the approximately 44 million pounds of waste collected by the city each day, according to Adams, who placed an emphasis on combating the city’s rodents.
City officials will issue notices for the first month of the new mandate, but will begin issuing summonses in April, Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in media appearances Friday morning with Adams.
Joshua Goodman, a spokesman for the city’s sanitation department, said the city’s only requirement for businesses is that they use a solid container with a secure lid.
Businesses need to work with their waste haulers to find out what type of container to use, because business waste is collected by private haulers, not the city.