Litterbugs will have a tougher fight on their hands as the City Council and Mayor Eric Adams agreed upon a new sanitation budget that council members say will help the Big Apple get cleaner and greener.
City Council Member Shaun Abreu (D-Manhattan), chair of the council’s Committee of Sanitation and Solid Waste Management, announced Sunday the restoration of funding — and additional cash — for litter-basket services and community composting programs that were facing deep mayoral budget cuts.
The financial win includes an initial $22 million that had been on Mayor Adams’ chopping block, but also an additional $3 million that Abreu said will bring more frequent trash pickups than before.
Not only will existing litter baskets be saved, but additional Better Bins — litter receptacles designed to keep rats out — will be coming to neighborhoods across the city, Abreu said.
The Department of Sanitation has been working to replace all 23,000 of the city’s old, wire mesh bins with the new “rodent-proof” bins designed to send rats packing since last fall.
Better Bins keep rats away through their unique design pattern. The baskets’ perforations are shaped diagonally and do not extend down to the bottom of the bin, deterring rodents from entering easily, while still allowing for liquid drainage.
Community composting was facing funding cuts all year under the mayor’s November budget plan. The council, however, was able to restore $6.245 million to organizations in the community composting system and $5 million for an organics processing infrastructure at the Lower East Side Ecology Center.
“We are never going to slash and burn our way to a green city,” Abreu said. “The only way to get there is by doubling down on the solutions proven to work—adding more rodent-proof litter baskets; increasing the frequency and efficiency of trash pick-ups; and uplifting community-based climate action groups like our community composting programs, which divert organic waste from landfills and teach hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers how to build sustainable habits in their day to day lives.”
The restoration of funding will save existing community composting programs but will also expand community composting’s presence throughout all five boroughs. Groups that received funding for composting include Big Reuse, BK ROT, Compost Power and GrowNYC.
Composting programs continued to do their work while facing cuts, but with dwindling funding, reduced staff and uncertainty over how the budget would affect operations. Regular curbside composting in Brooklyn and Queens was still active.
“BK ROT is heartened by the support from the city council for the upcoming fiscal year,” said Dior St. Hillaire, co-executive director at BK Rot. “We believe deeply in the mission of diverting organics locally, investing in local solutions, and supporting green jobs for youth workers, and are grateful for the council members who advocated to fund community compost in NYC.”
