New York City is on track to record the fewest reported rat sightings<\/a> since the pandemic. Rat sightings have dropped 22% in the first seven months of 2026 compared with the same period last year, according to data from 311, the non-emergency service portal used to report rodents and request inspections. Sightings typically peak in the summer months, before declining through fall and winter.<\/p>\n The reports have fallen year-over-year every month since November 2024. The city\u2019s Sanitation Department credits the decline to a push started by former Mayor Eric Adams, who declared a \u201cwar on rats\u201d<\/a> in 2022 and began efforts to starve the city\u2019s rodent population of food.<\/p>\n The city installed around 1,100 Empire Bins \u2013 large on-street trash bins \u2013 in Manhattan Community Board 9, which includes West Harlem, as a pilot program in 2025. The Sanitation Department\u2019s First Deputy Commissioner Javier Lojan said the pilot\u2019s budget was $2.1 million during a City Council committee hearing in March. <\/p>\n The area\u2019s trash has been fully containerized since June 2025, and reported sightings fell 34% in the first seven months of 2026 compared with last year. Residents say the bins have had a major impact. Juan Colmenares, 57, said he no longer sees \u201ca line of trash going up and down the street\u201d just from his building. He said he\u2019s seen fewer rats, too. <\/p>\n \u201cThere are less on the street walking around,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t mean that there are less rats inside the buildings in their nests.\u201d<\/p>\n Rats are known to carry diseases, cause property damage and pose public health risks. As a result, controlling their population has been a priority for local governments across the globe, including in New York.<\/p>\n In November 2022, Adams and then-Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch<\/a> launched the \u201cGet Stuff Clean\u201d initiative, which invested $14.5 million in cleaning up neglected areas and combatting litter across New York City. Adams also appointed Kathleen Corradi as \u201crat czar\u201d<\/a> in 2023, and charged her with permanently reducing the city\u2019s rat population. She stepped down in September 2025 and wasn\u2019t replaced.<\/p>\n The centerpiece of Adams\u2019 anti-rat campaign was a push to get trash bags off the curb. The effort, dubbed the \u201cTrash Revolution,\u201d<\/a> involved gradually rolling out requirements for containerization, or placing garbage in lidded bins for pickup rather than leaving bags piled up on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n The rules took effect for all businesses in March 2024 and for low-density residential buildings in November 2024. Those buildings produce roughly 70% of the city\u2019s trash, according to the Sanitation Department.<\/p>\n Robert Corrigan, a rodentologist who advises the city\u2019s Health Department, said he felt \u201cvery positive\u201d about the city\u2019s containerization effort. Putting bags in containers prevents rats from being able to access garbage, their favorite food, he said, calling lids \u201cthe true hero of rat management.\u201d He added that more data needed to be collected before speculating about whether the effort was successful.<\/p>\n Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in April that he planned to continue Adams\u2019 efforts on garbage. He pledged that the city would have 100% trash containerization<\/a> by the end of 2031. <\/p>\n Though overall rat sightings are down so far this year, it\u2019s not uniform across community districts. Brooklyn 2, which includes parts of DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights, is down 48% this year, while Manhattan 3, which covers the Lower East Side, East Village and Chinatown, saw rat sightings climb 38%. <\/p>\n The overall decline may be explained by citywide garbage policies as well as public awareness of the need for proper trash disposal, said Corrigan, the rodentologist. \u201cPeople are more aware that it\u2019s a really strong relationship between doing the trash in some way with containerization versus just putting it out in bags.\u201d<\/p>\n Scott, who lives on the Lower East Side in Manhattan 3, said she avoids walking on the sidewalk because it belongs to the rats. \u201cI know how I feel about uninvited guests, so I just stay in the middle of the street,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She attributes the increase in rat sightings to construction, which disturbs the rodents\u2019 burrows and drives them into the open. And she doubts better garbage disposal will be enough to curb the growing rat population. \u201cI still think that they find ways to eat, especially buildings that have first floor restaurants,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n Joshua Goodman, a Sanitation Department spokesperson, called Manhattan 3 an \u201cinteresting statistical anomaly.\u201d He said the increase in sightings was driven by three specific blocks in the district and is \u201cpotentially reflective of issues inside the individual buildings rather than on the street.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo even when you look at the small areas that might appear to show an increase, it\u2019s really an outlier, and the citywide number is the real story,\u201d Goodman said. <\/p>\n The city announced plans in April to fully containerize six additional community boards. Brooklyn 2 had already been announced as the program\u2019s next target, and is expected to have Empire Bins installed this fall. <\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s executive budget<\/a>, released in May, included a $14.8 million investment in waste containerization for fiscal year 2027. The amount will grow to $162.2 million by 2031.<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1785863147_356_image.jpg\")
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