More than 200 litter baskets removed in Harlem

More than two hundred litter bins in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood have been removed in an effort to correct misuse, a report by The New York Times says. The New York City Sanitation Department (DSNY) removed 222 litter baskets in the last year.

The baskets’ primary use is for pedestrian littler, but department officials say most had been filled with trash bags and debris from homes and businesses. The removal of the baskets in Harlem is part of a city-wide effort, with the trash cans being hauled away in the Upper West Side, Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene, Bay Ridge, the South Bronx, Maspeth and Ridgewood as well.

According to the report, 1,131 litter baskets have disappeared from city street corners in the last year, or about 5 percent of the 23,250 baskets dispersed in commercial and heavily used pedestrian corridors. Most of the baskets were removed because of misuse, but some were found in spots that did not meet commercial criteria.

Harlem residents and officials claim the reduced amount of litter baskets is increasing litter because waste is being tossed where the baskets used to be. The trash piles are driving away customers and tourists and are drawing in rats and roaches, the report says. There has also been an increase in fines for waste that piles up outside of homes and businesses that may not belong to the resident or business.

State Assemblywoman Inez Dickens, whose district includes Harlem, says in the report she has received more than 150 complaints about the missing baskets, particularly from property owners who have been fined $100 or more after trash on the pavement blows in front of their homes and stores.

DSNY officials say in the report they routinely review the placement and use of litter baskets and removing the ones that were being chronically misused has been an effective way to mitigate improper disposal. Kathryn Garcia, the city’s sanitation commissioner, says in the report that there have been improvements on corners where household trash piled alongside litter baskets.

Harlem still has the most litter baskets than other neighborhoods after the 223 were removed, the report says. There are currently 1,399 baskets in Harlem, 779 in the Upper West Side and 719 on the Upper East Side.