NYC plans to reduce rat population through waste management

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced a $32 million, multiagency plan to reduce the city’s rat population that targets the three most infested parts of city: the Grand Concourse area, Chinatown/East Village/Lower East Side and Bushwick/Bedford-Stuyvesant. This interagency initiative aims to reduce rat activity by up to 70 percent in the targeted zones by minimizing food sources and available habitats. 

This integrated pest management approach will target environmental factors conducive to rats, which is more effective than poisoning rats alone, the city says. By dramatically reducing the available habitats and food sources in targeted areas, rat reproduction will diminish and rat colonies will decline. The city sets to achieve this by purchasing better waste containers, increasing trash pickup and increasing enforcement of rat-related violations in these areas. All aspects of this plan will be launched by the end of 2017.

“The Department of Sanitation (DSNY) is proud to join with our sister agencies to step up the fight against rats in New York City,” says Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia. “The best way to eliminate rats is to deprive them of food, including garbage in homes and litter on New York City streets. Increasing service and adding rodent resistant litter baskets will achieve this goal. I am excited to bring these and other approaches to the fight against rats in these targeted zones to significantly reduce the rat population. This plan promotes a healthier, safer and cleaner New York for all.”

The city will purchase 336 solar compactors that restrict access to trash with a mailbox opening. The city also will replace all the remaining wire waste baskets in the zones with 1,676 steel cans—both in parks and on street corners—which is designed to reduce rats’ access to food sources compared with current wire baskets. Installation of solar compactors and steels cans will begin by September.

The plan proposes a local law that requires buildings containing more than ten units within the mitigation zones to curb garbage after 4 a.m. the day of trash collection. Local laws will be proposed to require enrollment in organics collection by food service establishments and low-performing buildings in the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH)-designated areas. A citywide local law will also be proposed to increase fines for illegal dumping by private business from $1,500 to $5,000 for first-time offenses, with fines reaching up to $20,000 for additional violations.

The plan calls for increased DSNY basket and residential service in the most critical areas within the mitigation zones. Similarly, NYC Parks basket pickup will become an everyday occurrence in all parks within the zones, accompanied by targeted litter removal from parks. Increased DSNY and NYC Parks waste basket pickup has already begun, with increased DSNY residential pickup beginning by the end of August. Eight staff will be added to DOHMH’s anti-rat team, including seven front-line staff and a data scientist to allow DOHMH to conduct data-driven rat mitigation efforts. Finally, the New York Housing Authority’s (NYCHA’s) MyNYCHA mobile app will be modified to ensure tenants can effectively create work orders for trash removal and rat mitigation.

The city will allocate $16.3 million in capital spending to replace dirt basement floors with concrete “rat pads” in prioritized NYCHA buildings within the mitigation zones. Additionally, $8.8 million will be invested in new NYCHA trash compactors to properly store waste, often replacing machines more than 20 years old and far past normal useful life. Requests for Proposal will be issued before the end of the year, with installation set to begin in 2018.

DOHMH will lead full-building, multiagency inspections of targeted private buildings alongside the Department of Buildings (DOB), Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and DSNY to identify conditions that contribute to rat infestations, order owners to make repairs and issue violations when warranted. DSNY will undertake a three-month enforcement blitz against illegal dumping at major NYCHA facilities to pilot tactics that can reduce rat food sources and habitat. In addition, DSNY will focus outreach and enforcement to promote waste management best practices, including separating organic waste.