Labor Day Service Update from New York City Department of Sanitation

By Carol Tannenhauser

Usually on three-day holiday weekends, there’s no residential trash pickup on both Sunday and Monday, allowing garbage to pile up, and resulting in what sanitation workers call the “holiday chase” — the week after spent catching up.

This year, under the direction of the new sanitation commissioner, Jessica Tisch, DSNY is trying something different: a pilot program using paid volunteers from the department to work on the holiday — Monday, September 5th — and pick the garbage up.

That means some changes for residents, as outlined by the Department of Sanitation in a press release.

Residents who normally receive Monday trash collection should place their material at the curb SUNDAY EVENING, between 4 p.m. and midnight, for collection beginning Monday. This pilot “on-holiday pick-up” represents an additional service as collection normally does not take place on the holiday.

Residents who normally receive Monday recycling collection should place their material out at curbside between 4 p.m. and midnight on the following Sunday, September 11, for pickup on Monday, September 12.

Residents who normally receive Monday curbside composting collection should place their material at the curb between 4 p.m. and midnight Monday evening, for collection beginning the next day, Tuesday, September 6.

The Department added that “collection delays are common after holidays,” so patience is appreciated.

“Ms. Tisch is hopeful that this new initiative will be cost-neutral, because the extra overtime expenses on Labor Day might be offset by less overtime during the week after Labor Day,” The New York Times reported. “If enough trash can be collected to substantively limit the ‘holiday chase,’ the city plans to adopt a similar protocol for all Monday federal holidays moving forward, provided there is no significant snowfall in the forecast.”

The Times also reported that Mayor Eric Adams’s budget included $22 million to increase the frequency at which trash baskets are emptied, and that “since the extra litter basket funding went into effect July 1, complaints about overflowing baskets have fallen more than 60 percent, the Sanitation Department says.”

For questions about Sanitation services and holiday schedules contact 311 or visit nyc.gov/sanitation.