It’s a shift that has some property owners bracing for potential fines.<\/p>\n
The Department of Sanitation confirmed that the current administration is renewing attention on compliance. <\/p>\n
A review by the city\u2019s Independent Budget Office found that the Mamdani administration \u201cresumed some level of fines in 2026, but it remains well below initial full enforcement levels.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, DSNY says the emphasis remains on education. Inspectors are issuing warnings and working with buildings to ensure residents understand what belongs in the brown compost bins.<\/p>\n
But some landlords say the compost bins aren\u2019t their biggest concern, but inspections of the regular trash, that will result in violations. <\/p>\n
Chris Athineos, who owns several rent\u2011controlled buildings in Brooklyn, says the real problem is what ends up in the regular trash chutes of older buildings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s compostable food, but it’s also plastic that could be recycled, paper they just tossing it all down,\u201d Athineos said, pointing to diapers, paper and other mixed waste. \u201cIt\u2019s a biohazard, and it\u2019s not being sorted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Athineos says he has tried signage, direct conversations with tenants and demonstrations on how to properly separate waste.<\/p>\n
Still, he says compliance remains inconsistent.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people, they\u2019re just not going to separate it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t separate it out ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
He worries that if the city increases fines, landlords will bear the cost for behavior they can\u2019t control.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m afraid the city is going to try and balance its budget from the curb,\u201d Athineos said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s going to be property owners paying it, not the tenants who don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, DSNY said enforcement remains a tool the agency can use when necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnforcement is always a part of these programs,\u201d the agency said. \u201cIt isn\u2019t our first tool in the toolbox, but it\u2019s always one that we\u2019re willing to use.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s a shift that has some property owners bracing for potential fines. The Department of Sanitation confirmed that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-187044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}