By Gus Saltonstall
Four Upper West Side schools were recently added to a pilot program from the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) aimed at using better trash containerization to ward off rats.
The Bloomingdale school (West 105th Street), Edward R. Reynolds school (West 102nd Street), Booker T. Washington school (West 108th Street), and the Robert E. Simon school (West 109th Street), now all have “rodent-proof receptacles” that trash bags will be placed into, instead of being left on the street.
“When trash is off the street, so are the rats,” DSNY wrote on February 26. “As of today, our containerization pilot is bringing clean streets to four more uptown schools.”
The pilot program started in the fall of 2023, when 14 schools in a 10-block stretch of Harlem got the new bins.
In the time since, rat sightings dropped by nearly 70 percent between September 2023 and the end of December 2023, when compared to the same period during 2022 in that area, according to the DSNY.
All four of the selected Upper West Side schools are part of the 10025 ZIP code, which is a longstanding hot-spot area for rat sightings. In 2021, there were more than 1,500 311 rat complaints reported in the ZIP code, which made up more than 7 percent of the entirety of reported rat sightings citywide that year.
One of the complaints, though, about the new bins is that they do take the place of parking spots at certain sites.
Much of the push around trash containerization and rat mitigation is being led by Upper West Side and Morningside Heights Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who is the Sanitation Committee chair and also the representative from the Harlem-area where the bin pilot program was first rolled out.
Along with the new bins, other significant sanitation-related changes have happened across the city in recent months and more are planned for the coming year. Over the last year, trash at residential buildings needs to be placed outside on the sidewalk between 6 p.m. and midnight if it is in a bin, and between 8 p.m. and midnight if it’s in bags.
This is a major change from previously allowing trash in bags to be placed on the sidewalk at 5 p.m.
In much more recent news, as of March 1, all businesses must now use bins for their trash bags, and are no longer allowed to leave bags on sidewalks.
And, starting in the fall of 2024, residential buildings with one to nine units will be required to set out all trash in containers with secure lids, and by the summer of 2026, all buildings of that size will have to purchase official NYC Bins to set out trash at the curb.
You can find out more information about the bins and the new trash laws on the DSNY website — HERE.
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Well done. It’s a very little bit of progress, but progress all the same.
This is great!
I hope it comes to the school at 77th and Columbus soon. The trash situation there is terrible.
This is nothing more than part of a plot, not to help with the rat problem, but to make it harder for people to access different parts of our region regardless of ability. Let’s face it, there’s many teachers who drive and will be losing parking. The UFT is against congestion pricing.
I’m amazed that someone found an argument against fixing the city’s trash and rat problems. But taking the concern at face value, this is a pilot program: if it works, we’ll expand it; if it doesn’t we’ll scrap it. Calling it a “part of a plot” is far-fetched.
No one has a problem fixing the trash and rat problem. But the continuous efforts to make it harder to drive whilst screwing over people who “do the right thing” and use transit while gaslighting us isn’t right and isn’t working, people see this.
Very weird that some people are pro ‘piles of trash bags on the street’ there’s a reason no other major city treats trash like we do
Make it harder for people to access the city? I sincerely doubt teachers are spending all that time in the morning hunting for street parking and do not want to spend money on garage parking.
This seems like an unmitigated good
Many of my kid’s teachers are commuting from far to get to school.
I know of several teachers who drive.
There is one teacher who lives in NJ and planning to quit as his commute (by public transportation) is overwhelming – a bus to NJ Transit, then train into Penn, then subway to the school, then walk….
Yet teachers who teach on the UWS cannot afford to live on the UWS and even if they could, the amount of space they would need and the family ties that they have may render them unable to live on the UWS. The big problem with those that live on the UWS and in Manhattan and trendy Brooklyn neighborhoods is that they’re unable to see outside their bubble. NYC has 8.5 million people and a metro area spanning 4 states, Manhattanites unable to see beyond their own bubble is even more unfortunate.
You’d be surprised at the amount of NYCDOE employees who look for street parking on the UWS. Just look at the amount of cars with NYCDOE placards near schools either in school days spots or regular street parking spots. The UFT didn’t join a lawsuit against congestion pricing for no reason, they heard this from A LOT of members. There’s even NYCDOE staff who live in NJ and commute to jobs in NYC public schools within the 5 boroughs.
While teachers are necessary, so are nurses, doctors, crossing guards, and how can we forget EMS workers. So let’s ban all others from parking spaces, by golly, even the disabled as they do not provide and worthwhile services. Teachers rule, even to the effect of taking away school yards from their students for privileged parking. A right deemed from up on high.
Getting rid of rats and trash on the sidewalk is more important than a few free parking spaces.
Let’s face it, if it’s not “free car storage” you’re raging about, it’s the high subsidy of public transit that “unwanted” people in Manhattan use.
Let’s also face this, there wouldn’t have been a significant push to containerize garbage without the pandemic and outdoor dining. Also car ownership has gone up in NYC, there’s a report out there that says people with ready access to a car are now the majority across all 5 boroughs in NYC.
I really don’t understand what your response means in relation to what I wrote.
Regardless, there should have been a push to containerize garbage 50 years ago. It’s too bad that we are just now making baby steps to what’s routine in cities all over the world.
Trash containerization is what’s best for our neighborhoods.
There’s a way to have garbage containers and put them outside and not lose parking spaces for this. Many houses and apartment buildings have garbage CANS and put them out. Maybe not in Manhattan, but its done in the other four boroughs enough. In fact most of the businesses that have containerized put them on the sidewalk and its fine. But that means that you can’t make it harder to drive.
There is too much garbage volume at some places that the plastic bins won’t be able to handle. Sometimes it is best to put them on the curb. There will still be plenty of free parking for the few car owners in the neighborhood.
The plastic bins on sidewalks can handle it trust me, you all just want to spite car drivers. It’s not only car owners living in the neighborhood, there’s workers, business owners, visitors etc. I just think you want access to the UWS to be cumbersome to those you don’t want around here and that includes people like me even if I did “the right thing” and took the train.
Not everything is a conspiracy. This seems pretty clearly to be about trash and rats.
When outdoor dining is weaponized to take parking away and indirectly worsen a rat problem necessitating taking more parking to “solve” the rat problem, it’s very clearly not about trash and rats. But we get it, there’s people who have the privilege of living in Manhattan that don’t care about those who do drive because they see Manhattan as a college campus where they can live like college students past senior year and everywhere else as going on a field trip.
Edward R Reynolds was moved to the eastside last year. This is now The Young Women’s Leadership.
As a parent, really try to make sure our kids are cognizant of all the trash produced.
Gets harder as they age with peers doing daily Starbucks, cheap throwaway clothing etc….
Now, if we can just get the kids to use them.
What a novel and groundbreaking concept… I can’t wait for other cities to catch onto this. Oh wait… we’re the only city that throws trash on the streets.
Containerization is great. But it only works if you CLOSE THE LID. Businesses putting their trash bins on the sidewalk often do with lids ajar or gaping because the bin is overfull. Starting this fall, residences also will have bin mandates. All will be for naught if the lids are not fully closed. There should be a PSA campaign of CLOSE THE LID or CLOSE THE BIN to prevent spread of rats, like there was years ago with CLOSE THE DOOR to prevent spread of fire.
NYC Rats wouldn’t dare eat the tossed out school lunches. Since the budget cuts school lunch is on a decline most of the food gets thrown away it has no taste and the kids really hate it too.