In 2024, New York City will continue to execute Mayor Eric Adams' initiatives to clean up the city.  Adams and Department of Sanitation (DSNY) Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced more containerization rules to get trash off the sidewalk. Starting March 1, 2024, all city businesses must secure trash in a lidded container. This will help get over 20 million pounds of trash—or half the city's waste—off the streets every day. 

The "Get Stuff Clean" Campaign

New York City is known for its bustling environment, but the sight of black trash bag piles will be a thing of the past. The March 2024 rule is the next phase of the"Get Stuff Clean" initiative the Adams administration announced in late 2022.  NYC is the country's most densely populated city, and the current administration is determined to provide as clean an environment as possible.  An additional goal is to fight rodent populations.

To commit to a cleaner city, the administration is investing $14.5 million in new funding to upgrade cleanliness protocols across the five boroughs. The "Get Stuff Clean" campaign will help clean up over 1,000 neglected areas and boost the number of sanitation workers. NYC Parks will receive more funding to add more evening shifts for cleaning the city parks. 

New bills will reduce the time trash sits on curbs and how often sanitation officials service litter baskets. This means trash will go into sanitation workers'  hands more quickly and not sit for rodents for hours. The results are remarkable; there's been a 55% reduction in litter basket complaints in 2023 from the past two years. 

There will be greater efforts to clean up highways, off-ramps, and bridges. The Adams administration is also cracking down more on illegal dumping. It will spend over $1.4 million on more surveillance cameras to catch illegal dumpers. Perpetrators will face $4,000 fines and more vehicle impounds.

Additional measures include allocating funds to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for rat mitigation efforts. The Department of Environmental Protection will increase staffing and vigilance for inspecting and cleaning sewer grates.

Residential Area and Subway ReNEWvation

Trash containerization rules will extend beyond all NYC businesses to residential buildings. By the fall of 2024, buildings with nine or fewer residential units will be required to containerize their trash. This means that 95% of the city's residential buildings will secure their trash with lids. The administration will soon have rules for the remaining 5%. 

NYC Department of Sanitation launched an amusing ad campaign to reinforce the cleanup rules. For example, one of the ads features a person with a used coffee cup instead of his head with the slogan, "If you litter, you're garbage." The ad's tagline is, "See a #GarbageNewYorker? Tell 'em where to stick it," and has an image of a trash bin for citizens and visitors to dissuade litterers they spot.

The city's visitors and dwellers will also have cleaner subway stations. In 2022, the MTA launched "The Station ReNEWvation Program" to upgrade and deep clean NYC transit stations. Deep cleaning efforts include power washing the station, removing gum from floors, benches, staircases, or columns, repainting columns, and retiling platforms and walls. By the end of the year, NYC Transit aims to complete renovations on 50 subway stations. The final phase of the program will be in July 2024.  

"Improving quality of life and cleanliness are key components to show that New York City is achieving a robust and equitable economic recovery [post-pandemic]," said James Whelan, president of New York's Board of Real Estate. "By taking a collaborative approach to the city's garbage pickup plan, we can achieve our shared goals of providing cleaner streets for residents, workers, and visitors."

The only beings who won't enjoy the cleaner environments? As the Get Stuff Clean campaign website says, "The rats will hate this."

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