Kristine Berube slammed down the top of the large, black, industrial garbage bins posted by the curb near her West 148th street home in West Harlem. It’s sight familiar to and — depending on whom you ask — a nuisance to residents in Hamilton Heights.
Berube, 67, a semi-retired artist, has lived in her ground floor apartment in Hamilton Heights off Broadway for 23 years and is an outspoken voice against the bins.
“I will not die behind these dumpsters,” Berube said. “It doesn’t make our neighborhood more livable. Or, you know, any idea about beautification in this neighborhood, when you’re constructing it like an alleyway. It’s not gonna happen.”
The Adams administration kicked off what’s been dubbed the “trash revolution” in April 2023 with the goal of reducing rats by containerizing the city’s large quantities of garbage.
West Harlem was selected for a trash bin pilot program after it was named as a “rat mitigation zone” by the Department of Sanitation. Another factor taken into consideration: the diversity of building type and size. Joshua Goodman, a deputy commissioner of public affairs for the Department of Sanitation said there’s been a decrease in rat-related 311 complaints since the program began in West Harlem.
“Residents all over the city call in rat complaints to 311. Right when you see a rat you call 311 and report it. And the rat complaints in this community are down 60%. People reporting fewer rat sightings is a tremendous piece of feedback,” he said.
Mandates for containerization across commercial businesses began in September 2023. Small residential buildings of one to nine units are required to be containerized by Nov.12. In the spring, DSNY will install dumpsters for large residential buildings as part of an additional pilot program. The city hopes to fully containerize Community District 9 by the summer.
No Easy One-Size Solution
As the community works with mixed feelings, and officials prepare for a November city-wide bin rollout for small residential buildings, the debate takes into account broader questions about urban trash solutions and their broader effects on the neighborhood.
“We’re doing something under the mayor’s leadership that no mayor has done in over 50 years, which is get the residential trash into containers. These initiatives are sweeping and they’re bold,” said Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch in an appearance on FOX5’s Good Day New York.
Berube has attended community board meetings, contacted local officials, council members and even Governor Kathy Hochul, she says, to no avail. She said the bins have deteriorated her quality of life even leading to cockroaches infesting her living room.
“Any way you look at it, they’re just ugly and dirty. So for me, it’s really disrupted my life. I was getting like, in my living room getting cockroaches, you know, it’s crazy,” she said.
Residents at a recent Community Board 9 meeting voiced concerns about the program, citing loss of parking spots and accessibility issues for individuals using the bins.
Marcus Edwards, 66, a 25-year Hamilton Heights resident, said he is worried about seniors accommodating the new 8 p.m. garbage set out times and residents lifting heavy bins.
“Getting heavy trash up into bins and bringing heavy bins around is a particular burden for seniors,“ he said.
High Costs
Edwards expressed concerns about who is going to pay for the bins and deal with illegal dumping. The city requires all small residential buildings utilize 55 gallon bins or smaller by Nov. 12 and will require usage of the official NYC bin by June 2026.
“To the bin theft issue, we homeowners are super concerned since we have to pay for them. Even single bins on the street tend to attract graffiti and people putting garbage on top of the bins, which of course is not great,” Edwards said.
The DSNY says official NYC bins will cost $45.88 for a 35-gallon bin and $53.01 for a 45-gallon bin, costs that add up for small building owners if the bins get stolen. Fines, which will be issued starting in January, range from $50 for a first offense to $200 for a third offense if buildings don’t comply with the new rules.
“For the bins, every household or building, everyone will have to buy them. A lot of people say ‘that was stolen,’ said Clare Miflin, founder and executive director of the Center for Zero Waste Design, at a recent panel hosted by the Center for Architecture. “Many other cities provide things. And again, this is an equity issue.”
Margaret Newman, practice leader for Urban Places and Smart Mobility at Stantec, said the responsibility comes down to small buildings.
“For small buildings somebody has to figure out who is responsible and who pays for this,” she said.
Despite resident concerns about losing parking spots, Goodman said the bins taking up 1 percent of space are a worthwhile project to reduce rats and get trash off the streets.
“In many places around the world, you see containers used for all waste streams. We are focusing on trash, which does mitigate the use of street space involved,” Goodman explained.
Other residents agree. Martin Toomajian, 40, an 8th grade teacher and Hamilton Heights resident, says the bins have been a great addition to the neighborhood and it’s worth losing the parking spots.
“I own a car, but I’m not at all upset that they took a few parking places from us because it’s New York City. I’m fine with less of the less space on the street being devoted to parking and being devoted to this instead,” he said. The city says there isn’t a precise estimate of how much parking will be taken away.
Newman explained there is an increased demand for curb space due to parking as well as online shopping along with the boxes and packaging that go along with it.
Garbage overflows the dumpsters on West 148th Street, Columbus Day 2024. (Photo credit: Kristine Berube)
“There’s parking, we need a place for this. Getting things off the sidewalk is huge but everyone else needs the curb as well…It gets really complicated.” Newman said.
Berube said it comes down to education and community input.
“It seems like you have to take into account what has changed in the neighborhood. You have to go to the root cause to understand how to fix it, I would think,” Berube said.
Correction: Clare Miflin’s name was misspelled in a previous version of this story.
