City Will Require Small Building Owners to Containerize Trash

DSNY proposes new garbage rules for small building owners.

On July 8, the NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) proposed rules that mandate residential buildings with under 10 units to use specific garbage containers starting this fall. The rules are likely to be adopted as written as Mayor Adams and Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch have already unveiled NYC’s first official trash bins and have announced DSNY’s proposed rules.

This initiative is the latest in the city’s efforts to get bags of trash off streets to reduce the city’s rat population. In May, DSNY had announced that new rules that reduce the time that garbage spends on the street and new secure container requirements for all businesses resulted in rat sightings down in 12 of the previous 13 months compared with the year before. And in Hamilton Heights, in a 10-block zone at the northern edge of West Harlem, where a residential containerization effort is in a pilot stage, rat complaints have decreased by 55 percent.

This new residential garbage containerization rule will cover all 765,000 NYC buildings with nine or fewer units. And between the commercial containerization effort and these sweeping new residential rules, 70 percent of the city’s trash is headed into containers. We’ll discuss the rule and cover the details of the “NYC Bin,” the official container to be used exclusively for buildings with one to nine residential units.

Garbage Container Requirements

Beginning Nov. 12, 2024, all buildings with one to nine residential units will be required to use bins, 55 gallons or less, with secure lids for trash set out. If you already use a bin with a secure lid that is 55 gallons or less for trash set out, you may continue to use it until June 2026. After that, you’ll need to switch to the official NYC Bin. Owners must ensure there are sufficient bins to store all the trash produced by residents in their buildings.

The containerization rule applies to trash and doesn’t apply to recycling and composting materials. However, separate NYC Bins are available for purchase for recycling and composting, though they aren’t required.

Official NYC Bins. The NYC Bin was selected following the city's release of a request-for-proposal (RFP) in October 2023 to contract a vendor to produce official NYC Bins. In the RFP, DSNY mandated that the vendor produce bins according to specifications including, but not limited to:

• Cost no more than $50 for the most common size.
• Available in multiple sizes to accommodate different types of buildings.
• Rat resistant, easy to use by sanitation workers, and compatible with mechanized collection trucks.

DSNY plans to retrofit or replace hundreds of collection trucks, adding mechanical tippers compatible with the new bins. This upgrade will speed up collection and minimize the possibility of spills that occur with manual collection.

The only site where owners can order official NYC Bins is at www.bins.nyc or by calling 1-855-NYC-BINS. They are exclusively available for NYC property owners and building managers and will be delivered only to addresses within the five boroughs. The largest bin available for sale is $53.01, has a 45 gallon capacity, and comes with a 10-year warranty. This is the size DSNY recommends for properties with multiple residential units. DSNY estimates that this size will hold up to four kitchen garbage bags.

Noncompliance penalties. To avoid a ticket, you’ll need to bring in all receptacles before 9 p.m. on the day of collection unless the collection occurs after 4 p.m., in which case you would have to bring the containers back inside before 9 a.m. on the day following collection.

And starting Nov. 12, 2024, failure to use a bin that is 55 gallons or less with a secure lid for trash set out will result in fines. The fines will be $50 for the first offense; $100 for the second offense; and $200 for the third and subsequent offenses.

What to Expect for Larger Buildings

The city is also advancing a plan to containerize trash in larger residential buildings. Buildings with 31 or more residential units will be required to use stationary, on-street containers for their trash, serviced by DSNY's new automated side-loading garbage trucks. On-street containers will be assigned to a specific building, solely for residents of that building.

Buildings with 10 to 30 units will be able to choose between stationary on-street containers and smaller wheelie bins. The first district with these containers will be Manhattan Community Board 9, beginning spring 2025, with further expansion pending environmental review.