Beginning March 1, Businesses Required to Dispose of Trash in Bins

YS Gold 

An onerous requirement for New York City businesses is about to go into effect on March 1. 

While many businesses already use private sanitation companies with steel containers, many businesses have been putting their trash in black bags at the curb. 

This will be illegal, as of March 1st, when all businesses will be required to dispose of their trash in bins with lids. This is the latest salvo in the city’s war on rats, in an attempt at taking away a food source for the rats. 

We reached out to the owner of a local food establishment to ask them about this coming change. He observed that “I think it's like everything else, specifically for a retail food business: NYC is the best place to do business—because it has a dense population—and the worst place to do business because the city is after you at every step of the way. You have to take the package deal.

He continued, saying that “regarding the trash issue specifically… I think it's actually a very fair rule they're trying to impose, and they have been very fair in enforcing it so far, not coming down hard, only issuing warnings and giving business owners a chance to get set up. I think it does help with keeping away rats/rodents, and it's important to have some sort of system to avoid large piles of trash and keep the streets clean, but like many other laws, it's not one size fits all, and a blanket rule doesn't work for everyone.” 

After the rule goes into effect on March 1, business owners will have a grace period of one month before they begin being ticketed for improper disposal of trash.