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The game to de-gross New York continues: the city has been on a big rat mitigation uptick this year, with food establishments officially tasked with binning their trash instead of throwing it on the sidewalk. And now NYC Sanitation wants you to rat out, literally, any food-related businesses and chain stores that don’t adhere to the new garbage guidelines.
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On Tuesday, August 22, NYC Sanitation tweeted out a request of New York residents: “It’s time for you to… BE A RAT! See a restaurant, deli, bodega, or grocery store not using a bin? Rat ’em out by replying here with address and photo. We’re writing approximately 1,000 warnings per day. Summonsing starts Sept 1.”
It's time for you to… BE A RAT!
— NYC Sanitation (@NYCSanitation) August 22, 2023
See a restaurant, deli, bodega, or grocery store not using a bin?
🐀 'em out by replying here with address and photo 👇
We're writing approximately 1,000 warnings per day. Summonsing starts Sept 1.
Read the rules: https://t.co/jaK3aBGuq3
When asked by a Twitter user if narcs should notify the department via 311 or DM, the NYC Sanitation social media rep responded: “DMs more than welcome!”
The “see something, say something” callout came three weeks after the new commercial containerization guidelines went into place: “As of August 1, 2023, ALL food-related businesses in NYC must use rigid containers with secure lids when setting out trash for collection,” including “restaurants, grocery stores, delis, bodegas, caterers, and other businesses that sell or handle food,” NYC Sanitation instructed. By Tuesday, September 5, all chain stores—i.e. “all businesses with five or more NYC locations, regardless of what is sold are affected”—must also abide by the new container rules.
As for what to look for, per the new guidelines, all refuse or organic material, like food scraps, must be secured in a lidded container for curb collection, so it doesn’t apply to other recyclable materials, such as metal, glass, plastic or paper.
Businesses that have waste collected from a loading dock are also not impacted by the rules. But for those venues that are impacted, the containers must be stored no further than three feet from the building line, or more ideally inside or in a rear yard, and must be kept in a neat manner that doesn’t obstruct from pedestrian travel on sidewalks.