Mayor Eric Adams and Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced the city’s first containerized waste bins in a New York City commercial district today.

The announcement follows the city's efforts to clean up streets and expand the Clean Curbs Pilot to all five boroughs. The program tests methods for getting garbage bags off the streets. It will include possible tests in business improvement districts and for both residential and commercial waste.

“Environmental justice begins at the street level, and it starts now,” said Adams. “We need to stop dodging black garbage bags and instead fund and test container models throughout the city that will make our streets cleaner and more inviting for both New Yorkers and visitors.”

Today’s pilot began in Times Square with sealed containers at 41st Street and Seventh Avenue and 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue. They are designed to hold trash collected from sidewalk litter and nearby litter baskets. The new containers will act as a centralized site to hold bags in a sealed atmosphere prior to collection.