New stationary trash bins helped reduce rat sightings

Some of the new trash container bins that the NYC Dept. of Sanitation recently installed around Community Board 2.
Photo courtesy of DSNY

NORTHWESTERN BROOKLYN — RESIDENTS OF COMMUNITY BOARD 2 TOLD GOTHAMIST THIS WEEK THAT THE NEW TRASH BINS are replacing parking spaces, but the NYC Dept. of Sanitation refutes that.

Last week, dozens of new bins were placed around schools and residential buildings around Community Board 2, encompassing Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, following an announcement from the Sanitation Dept. that this area would be the second to have all its trash fully containerized in the Adams administration’s innovative Empire Bins. Their placement in Community Board 2 follows the DSNY’s successful pilot rollout in West Harlem. Next year, the program will be further extended to all schools and high-density residential buildings around CB2.

A DSNY spokesperson clarified in an email to the Brooklyn Eagle on Wednesday, Oct. 22, that the new Empire bins are being placed in “public street space that has recently been used for private parking.”

“With the installation of Empire Bins, we are now using a tiny amount of that space to fight the rats. Public space is being used for a public good, a small price to pay for cleaner streets and sidewalks and fewer rats,” said the DSNY spokesperson.

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