City expands trash container program with 10,000 Empire Bins by 2027
Officials say up to 10,000 Empire Bins will be installed across eight community districts by the end of 2027, targeting larger residential buildings that currently place trash bags on the curb.
The city is ramping up its effort to move trash off the sidewalks by expanding its Empire Bin program into more neighborhoods.
Officials say up to 10,000 Empire Bins will be installed across eight community districts by the end of 2027, targeting larger residential buildings that currently place trash bags on the curb.
“We will deliver at least one fully containerized community district in every single borough by the end of next year,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Friday.
The bins will be required for buildings with more than 30 units.
That includes Community Districts 2 and 8 in Brooklyn, covering neighborhoods such as Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, DUMBO and Downtown Brooklyn.
The rollout will focus on Community Districts 2 and 5 in the Bronx, including Hunts Point, Longwood, Mount Hope, Morris Heights and Fordham Heights.
“Seventy percent of trash in New York City is containerized at this point. This is addressing the remaining 30%. These are the larger-scale residential buildings that right now are putting their trash out in bags,” Mamdani said.
Buildings with 10 to 30 units will have the option of using an Empire Bin or smaller wheeled bins, already used by properties with fewer than 10 units.
The city says early results show progress. Since the first Empire Bins were installed in West Harlem last June, the city says 311 complaints about rats have dropped by about 25 percent in that area, compared to the same period last year.
City officials say about $15 million is being added to the city’s expense budget next year to fund the expansion, along with $35.5 million in capital funding spread across this fiscal year and next.
The administration’s goal is to have the entire city fully containerized by the end of 2031.
