Over the last two years, containerized trash bins have largely replaced trash bags piled up on city sidewalks.
On Monday, official NYC Bins are supposed to be the exclusive trash container for all residential buildings with nine or fewer units.
What You Need To Know
The Department of Sanitation says June 1 is the long-standing deadline for all residential buildings with nine or fewer units to use the official NYC Bin to put out trash
Through Labor Day, homeowners not using the official city trash bin will be issued warnings
After Sept. 8, full enforcement will begin, and fines starting at $50 will be issues to any property not in compliance
Some property owners say they have run into issues trying to acquire the mandatory bins
Sam Levinson is the long time superintendent of an apartment building on 34th Street in Astoria, and says the bins have helped with the neighborhood’s rat problem.
“I think it is great — the rats, I haven’t seen no rats around, and that was out biggest problem, the rats getting into piles and ripping up the bags. We put them out here, they rip up the bags, so that would be great to get the big pails out,” Levinson said.
The Department of Sanitation says June 1 of this year has been the long-standing deadline for all residential buildings to use the official NYC Bin to put out trash.
But as has been standard for all phases of the trash containerization program, DSNY is starting with a warning period first.
Through Labor Day, homeowners in buildings with nine or fewer units not using the official city trash bin will be issued warnings.
After Sept. 8, full enforcement will begin, and fines starting at $50 will be issued to any property not in compliance.
According to DSNY, more than 1 million bins have already been purchased.
The department says the official city bins are durable, rodent-resistant and compatible with mechanical tippers on the backs of collection trucks, which they say will make it easier and safer for sanitation employees to pick up trash.
When the policy was first announced, some homeowners complained of difficulties acquiring the mandatory bins.
Some of the bins were out of stock on both the city and some department store websites.
Earlier this year, the department said all the bins were now available at Home Depot locations across the boroughs, but when visiting Home Depot’s website, both sizes of the regular trash bin were listed as “limited stock” and couldn’t be purchased. The recycle bins were listed as completely out of stock.
Fines for not using the official city bin start at $50, which is about the same cost as the bin itself.
The City Council implemented a reimbursement program to cover the cost of the bins for one- and two-family homeowners who meet certain eligibility requirements.