For decades, New York City sidewalks have been notorious for their heaps of trash in plastic bags, a feeding ground for the city's relentless rat population.
Now, in a significant shift, residential buildings with fewer than 10 units are required to use lidded trash bins, a policy that began on Nov. 12. Businesses adopted similar measures earlier this year.
The move is part of under-fire Democratic Mayor Eric Adams' yearslong drive to combat the city's persistent rodent problem, including initiatives such as appointing a "rat czar." The new container rules aim to eliminate the piles of refuse that provide sustenance for up to three million New York rats each year.
Residents face fines of $50 to $200 starting Jan. 2 for noncompliance.
Those living in any major global city may find a move so simple being framed as an innovation bizarre.
"I know this must sound absurd to anyone listening to this who lives pretty much in any other city in the world," said Jessica Tisch, the city's former sanitation commissioner, who oversaw the new measures before becoming the city's new police commissioner this week.
"But it is revolutionary by New York City's standards because, for 50 years, we have placed all our trash directly on the curbs."
Why Rats Thrive in New York City's Trash System
New York City produces roughly 44 million pounds of trash daily, with about 24 million pounds collected by the city's sanitation department, according to Steven Cohen, a Columbia University public affairs dean.
Historically, trash collection relied on plastic bags, a system adopted in 1968 after a sanitation workers' strike left metal bins overflowing.
"You see plastic bags open with the food just rotting and stinking and then it leaking out over the sidewalk and into the road," said John Midgley, who owns a brownstone in Brooklyn and has lived in London, Paris and Amsterdam.
"Just the stink of it builds up, you know, week after week after week."
These new rules, however, introduce unforeseen logistic challenges. Buildings in densely packed neighborhoods must find space for bins—regardless of whether there are alleys, garages, or yards on-site.
Residents and landlords must also handle the added responsibility of placing bins on the curb and retrieving them.
"It's completely rearranged our lives," Dominick Romeo, founder of NYC Building Supers, said during a City Hall rally. His group of building managers has voiced frustrations about the added workload.
NYC Rat Czar Appointed in 2023
Manhattan resident Caitlin Leffel noted the program's rollout has not accounted for the complexities of urban living. "The way this program has been rolled out, it has not taken into account many of the nuances of living in New York City," she said.
Mayor Adams has intensified efforts to combat the city's rat problem, including appointing Kathleen Corradi as rat czar——the city's first director of rodent mitigation——in 2023.
Corradi's role involves coordinating efforts to deprive rats of food sources and deploying accelerated mitigation plans.
Despite decades of attempts by past administrations, from Rudy Giuliani's "rodent academy" to Bill de Blasio's $30 million rat-reduction budget, the problem has persisted.
Corradi acknowledged the scale of the challenge but expressed optimism "You'll be seeing a lot of me and a lot less rats," she said at a news conference last year.
Implementing Rat Birth Control Across the City
New York City also plans to reduce its rat population by administering contraceptives to rodents.
A single male and female can produce up to 15,000 rats between them in a year.
The program has received backing from animal rights groups including PETA, who refer to it as a more humane solution than outright seeking to exterminate New York's entire rodent population.
For now, city officials are issuing warnings for noncompliance as New Yorkers adapt to their bin changes.
Tisch believes the effort will pay off "No one wants to walk past a heaping mound of trash and trash juice when they are leaving to go to work or they are walking their kids home from school," she said.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press
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