Mamdani supported the program and wanted to expand it while on the campaign trail, but he did not include it in his $127 billion preliminary budget<\/a> in February. As he prepares his executive budget later this month, waste reform advocates are urging the new mayor to keep it going and make good on his election pledge.<\/p>\n \u201cI strongly want them to continue containerizing waste and not lose the momentum that has been started,\u201d said Clare Miflin, founder and executive director of the Center for Zero Waste Design. \u201cBut I also think it\u2019s important to get it right for such a huge change.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s freshly minted DSNY Commissioner<\/a>, Greg Anderson, told Streetsblog that he met with Hizzoner and pushed for containerization funding on his first day of leading the agency on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re having really productive conversations, and are expecting to continue those conversations through the executive budget process,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThere\u2019s enough funding for what we\u2019re currently operating. Obviously, we need to have conversations about expansion in the context of the budget.\u201d<\/p>\n New York\u2019s Strongest began collecting residential and school garbage from curbside containers in West Harlem\u2019s Community District 9 with all new side-loading trucks<\/a> last year<\/a>, and then-Mayor Eric Adams instituted the same practice at schools in Brooklyn\u2019s Community District 2 in the last months of his term. The remainder of that district \u2014 which covers areas around Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene and Brooklyn Heights \u2014 is slated for later this year.<\/p>\n But that will only happen if the missing funds materialize \u2013 ditto for the remainder of the city, which the agency expects to cover by mid-2032<\/a>. <\/p>\n The curbside program grew out of a comprehensive 2023 study<\/a> and covers all buildings with 31 or more units, while those with 10-30 dwellings get to choose between Empire Bins or smaller, wheeled bins on the sidewalk. Around half<\/a>\u00a0of mid-size buildings in the uptown pilot opted for street containers. The curbside bins are locked with key cards and only accessible to DSNY and building superintendents.<\/p>\n Housing with nine units or fewer have had to switch to wheelie bins across the five boroughs\u00a0since 2024<\/a>. Recycling still goes in bags on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n Miflin has long advocated for DSNY to enable<\/a> smaller and middle-sized buildings to also use shared Empire Bins, along with enabling larger buildings to use roll-out dumpsters on collection days. \u201cMy hope is that [the Mamdani administration] will take the time to pilot some of our suggestions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The Council did not include containerization funding in its own budget response published on Wednesday \u2014 but Speaker Julie Menin continues to back the effort, according to a spokesperson. \u201cSpeaker Menin strongly supports trash containerization and believes it is critical to improving quality of life across the city,\u201d said Henry Robins in a statement.<\/p>\n Mamdani endorsed the program while running for office, and expressed familiarity with its quirks. He said the city \u201cmissed [an] opportunity\u201d to allow recycling to be containerized and supported the ability of smaller buildings to share curbside containers, according to a candidate questionnaire by The City<\/a>. Containerization was one of the rare policies<\/a> for which Mamdani praised his predecessor.<\/p>\n Repurposing free parking for private vehicles will be a\u00a0political lift<\/a>\u00a0in the face of the\u00a0entitled<\/a> driving<\/a>\u00a0class<\/a>, but even the normally car-friendly Adams said the bins were a \u201cgood trade-off.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Duggan-DSNY-anderson-4-1-26.jpg\")
No joke: DSNY Commissioner Gregory Anderson tours Lower Manhattan businesses on April 1.<\/p>\n