Erik Bottcher Objects to DSNY’s Proposed New Rule on Trash
Bottcher says the proposed rule will adversely impact Business Improvement Districts and community volunteer groups.

The Department of Sanitation’s proposed rule regarding cleaner streets may be valuable in theory, but City Council member Erik Bottcher warns in a letter to the DSNY that it will bring about “unintended consequences that could negatively impact the cleanliness and livability of our neighborhoods.”
The proposed rule would prohibit bagged trash on all sidewalks, both publicly and privately owned, in an effort to curb rat infestation and improve sanitation. Any entity that fails to comply with the prohibition will be subject to monetary fines.
Bottcher considers how Business Improvement Districts will be adversely impacted by the rule. BIDs are nonprofit organizations that provide service improvements to their districts. Part of their work involves managing trash that overflows city trash baskets by transferring excess into bags and leaving them next to the city baskets for DSNY collection.
“That’s an action that improves sanitation,” Bottcher told Straus News.
Under the proposed rule, however, the not-for-profit BIDs would be required to deposit the collected trash into new rat-proof receptacles, which they would have to buy.
This places a considerable financial burden on these groups, especially considering their already-limited budget, Bottcher explains in his letter.
“The significant financial strain these requirements would impose threatens to divert resources from other crucial neighborhood services,” he wrote.
In an interview with The CITY, Tiera Mack, executive director of Brooklyn’s Pitkin Avenue BID, explained that BIDs are often taking care of other people’s refuse, garbage those people didn’t bag, and would therefore be fined for others’ trash.
“Everything becomes BID trash once it’s on the corridor, even if it’s illegal dumping, even when you can identify it as construction garbage,” said Mack.
Community volunteer groups also play a vital role in keeping city streets clean, Bottcher considered. However, the rule does not include subsidies from the DSNY for the required resources, meaning that volunteer organizations would have to manage the expense independently.
“The supplemental sanitation programs that BIDs and other cleanup groups have are working,” Bottcher said. “We shouldn’t interrupt those programs with well-intentioned rules that make it impossible for them to operate.”
DSNY spokesperson Vincent Gragnani told The CITY that the rule is meant to accelerate the goal of having zero trash bags on the streets.
“Neither businesses, nor residents nor any other entity should be allowed to leave bags of trash on the street,” Gragnani said. “Other cities around the world have been doing this for decades—we are certainly not the first.”
Asked about an ideal solution between the DSNY and impacted stakeholders, Bottcher said he hopes the proposed rule is waived.
“I would like to see them retract this proposed rule, because it’s trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.”
The proposed no-trash-bags rule is “trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.” —City Council member Erik Bottcher