The New York City Housing Authority is set to launch a containerization pilot, “Clean Curbs for All,” which could change the way it collects and stores waste from its 162,143 apartments. The news, contained in a request for proposal NYCHA, means that the city’s largest landlord wants to begin using large, onsite waste containers that empty directly into garbage trucks. Were the pilot to be scaled up, the Department of Sanitation would need to modernize its fleet with mechanical lifting gear in order to hoist the receptacles. Both are longtime goals of activists who hope to get the mountains of leaky, stinking, rat-drawing garbage bags that clutter sidewalks on collection days out of the way of the city’s long-suffering pedestrians.

“NYCHA believes that hoist-lifted surface containers, which are comprised of a sealed waste receptacle which empties directly into the collection truck and which residents could directly place bags of garbage into would significantly reduce the amount of curbside trash and recyclables, eliminate opportunities for pests to access the garbage, and significantly reduce the amount of time NYCHA staff must devote to moving trash among the Developments, freeing up time for other job functions,” according to the RFP.

The housing authority “believes it could establish a significant demand for containerized curbside services in New York City and therefore incentivize other entities to make significant investment in specialized trucks and new procedures necessary to provide and service containers,” the RFP added, citing NYCHA’s huge size.

To read the full story, visit https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2022/09/27/nycha-to-pilot-clean-curbs-for-all-with-hopes-of-full-containerization-of-trash/.
Author: Eve Kessler, StreetsBlog NYC
Image: Clarence Eckerson Jr., StreetsBlog NYC

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