Commercial carting companies that have lost private business customers in the coronavirus crisis say they’re offering to help the city Department of Sanitation pick up residential refuse. The offer to add private carting companies to the city’s sanitation routes is “on the table,” owners of private carting companies say.
“If things get bad enough, we don’t want garbage piling up in the streets,” said Tom Toscano, the owner of Mr. T Carting in Glendale, Queens.
The Department of Sanitation, however, said it does not intend to use private carters to supplement its workforce. “This is absolutely not under consideration,” a DSNY spokeswoman said. “New Yorkers depend on us, and we will continue to provide our most essential services.“
Toscano and other carting company owners say they’re willing to help even though the city has threatened their businesses by revamping the current commercial waste removal landscape to a zone model where only one or two carting companies can work in a specific area.