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‘Major cities all throughout the world have a modernized and efficient approach to trash collection, and New York City is still lagging. We should make the most out of our public spaces and prioritize public health.’
Adi Talwar
New York City is the greatest city in the world — for trash. Every evening, 12,000 tons of garbage and recyclables are thrown away by New Yorkers. And every evening mountains of garbage bags pile up on the city’s sidewalks. Since there is no limit to the number of bags New Yorkers can put on the curb, garbage bags take over most of the pedestrian walking space. How does one stand six feet away, enjoy outdoor dining, and support mobile food vendors, when there’s piles of garbage bags in the way?
New York City’s waste collection system is notably flawed. Every major city in the U.S. has managed to take trash off the sidewalk, yet New York City continues to fall short. In the 19th century, to prioritize real estate, planners did not build back alleyways for trash collection. Because of this one planning afterthought, the city has spent decades normalizing dumping black garbage bags on top of each other in a public space.
Piles of garbage bags are not only aesthetically displeasing, it’s also unhygienic. Garbage bags can easily be torn open and be turned into an overnight buffet for rats and other pests. Sidewalk trash is a major contributor to the city’s growing rat population. While the city has taken steps to alleviate its rat problem, it has done little to address the root cause itself, and that’s how it collects its waste.
New York City has an ambitious goal of sending zero waste to landfills by 2030. However, in order to achieve this, the city must make dramatic changes to how it manages its waste. Waste collection has been traditionally left out of urban street design. Yet how garbage bags are thrown out and picked up from sidewalks have a lasting effect on the eminence of urban life. As the city’s density continues to increase, the question of waste collection becomes more vital.
Upsettingly, City Hall cut the Department of Sanitation’s budget by $106 million last summer, which reduced trash pickups by 60 percent, and the city’s trash situation has only gotten worse. With the mayoral race and City Council races coming up, 2021 is a prime moment for fundamental municipal change for the city. Trash is an overlapping issue that connects to climate change, public health, transit, and more. Current candidates need to make clear how they plan to address and reform the city’s waste management plan.
In March 2020, mayoral candidate and former Department of Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia helped launch the Clean Curbs program. This is a pilot program for commercial waste collection where entities like Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) can apply for the opportunity to have sealed, on-street containers for their trash and recycling storage. While a good step forward, this program relies on private interests to maintain the trash system in a public space, and puts an essential service like waste collection onto local groups, when this should be a city responsibility. It’s also important to note that not every neighborhood has a BID. This is a very micro solution to a macro problem.
The current waste management approaches in the city are heavily segregated by neighborhoods. There should be no reason why we have Roosevelt Island with an efficient pneumatic tube waste collection system and Battery Park City’s community compacting program, while in the majority of neighborhoods throughout the city, piling garbage bags on sidewalk curbs is the norm. New York City needs to standardize its waste collection system to maximize efficiency. One unified system can help with organization, centralizing capacity, and managing resources. It also ensures that neighborhoods that lack resources aren’t isolated.
Getting to zero waste also requires change in policy. New York City is very wasteful and the lack of strict regulations on trash collection only curtails how New Yorkers should think or feel about waste itself. In order to get to zero waste, the city will need to regulate waste disposal. The city should implement a “pay as you throw” trash program, to incentivize residents to change their waste disposal behaviors. Many major cities throughout the country are practicing the “smart cities” movement to become more efficient in waste management by implementing pricing policy to control waste collection. New York is one of the few cities that still funds its waste collection system through general revenue.
In the post-COVID-19 world, we should not aim to return to the status quo. We should aim to return to better. Major cities all throughout the world have a modernized and efficient approach to trash collection, and New York City is still lagging. We should make the most out of our public spaces and prioritize public health. Getting its trash off the sidewalk is a good place to start.
Palak Kaushal is a recent graduate of the NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
13 Comments
robert green
fully endorse all of this. great article.
Sai Reddy
Complaining about everything doesn’t help solve the problem. How do you propose the city do this? What are the best ways you’ve seen other cities “put trash in its place?”
Delilah
If you read the article you’ll see the author did offer solution. Being critical of something does not mean “complaining,” it’s through critiques we can see change
Amna Rahman
I’d hardly say this author is complaining. She lists references to programs that should be implemented and mentions key points about the flaws in urban design that can be easily fixed. She shows readers how they can bring about change with her mention of mayoral elections coming in 2021 as well as what CAN be changed with these elections such as budget cuts to the sanitation department. You might be due for a reread!
NRC
Pay as you throw means landlords have to cover the cost of the waste their residents create with no actual means of compelling better behavior in tenants.
nyc101
And just how would the DSNY bill New Yorkers for this idiotic program?
Jasmine Aulakh
What’s idiotic is your attitude- at least the author is talking about it, which is more than I can say for hipsters drinking their ice lattes in plastic cups and adding even more to the litter crisis in NYC.
JMM
I completely agree with the points in this article! The trash and waste problems in NYC have been one more thing that has made living here during the pandemic torturous. Thank you for writing this piece and I hope the next mayor will prioritize this issue for all of the reasons you mentioned!
Jasmine Aulakh
It’s a great start to even talk about this scourge on our city. I don’t enjoy neighborhood walks in BK anymore bc the streets and parks are STREWN with trash. It’s horrible. I literally clean my street 5x a day and no one pitches in. We need a public awareness campaign to tackle individual behaviors while simultaneously implementing larger govt. programs. I think local businesses and landlords need to step up to clean up their sections. What’s idiotic is people’s total neglect for their communities
tom Collins
I just want to note that we have trash on sidewalks too in Philly and we are a “major city” AFAIK. I guess older cities face the issue due to lack of back alleyways etc.
the problem with sealed containers is people living in apartments often don’t have any outside space to store them.
the problem with charging for pickup (or eg making people purchase specific bags for pickup) is people who can’t afford will dump their trash is probably bloc places or etc and we need all trash collected. charging people fees will create problems and end up with the dwindling middle class subsidizing the poor as usual.
the best solution imo is how they do in Tokyo, trash is dropped in designated pickup areas in every neighborhood, yes you may have to walk tour trash a block or two. sadly Americans are too stupid and selfish for this kind of community system.
Eric Wiseman
Hello NYC. I would like to complain about the street cleaning covid schedule. We normally get street cleaned twice a week until the Mayor put it to one. I happened to live in a corner house and the tenants on the side of my house for some reason throw there garbage in the curb. They literally clean there vehicles of cups, mcdonalds, etc and place on side of house and in curb. I have made calls to the nypd parking in an attempt to get people to move there cars so it can be cleaned. I have made complaints to the sanitation dept to have abandoned vehicles removed so cleaning can be done. To no prevail. Everything I’ve tried goes unheard. Help
I am a prisoner in my own home because I cannot leave my corner drain unattended with rain in forecast. Garbage from the whole block ends up on the corner and I am out there in water mid calf trying to clean drain. The street sweeper often flies by at speeds looking greater than the city’s speed limit. I have been unable to go on vacation in fear of a possible flood if I am not there to clean drain. Can you publish this? I need help
I am quite sure there are other prisoners in the city
Thankyou Eric
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M Malone
The city of New York, and or the state of New York, need to immediately address this trash and sanitation issue which is an absolute embarrassment to the city and its residents, and to the trillions spent in investment in the city.
Don’t care what anyone says, the city has a basic and core responsibility to provide SANITATION and basic health, police services. It’s on par with needing utilities like electricity, water, etc., trash STORAGE and REMOVAL are BASIC FUNCTIONS of a city like NYC. Totally and completely unacceptable and I’m shocked that residents are not more upset and demanding of real action on this important issue. Appreciate this article bringing this up.
Melinda
Not only is the city is wasteful there’s no rules to implement on how to take the trash out.
I’ve called 311 and reported the trash in my neighborhood that’s been piling up on the sidewalks and the trees. The only solution they give is that they’re going to have someone write a notice to the landlord to resolve this. No one is going to clean it up. Why? Because they don’t care. Instead of just fining the landlords who can actually ‘pay it off’, we need to start looking for solutions and fine the people who are responsible to make them care. I have a ton of neighbors living in my building that disgust me. The way they “recycle” or throw their trash out, they just dump it. They don’t care.
In order to have a better and cleaner city, there should be a guideline on how to recycle, throw out trash, etc.