Brooklyn Parking Spots Turn Into Trash Bins

New York City is converting on-street parking spaces into designated waste storage areas to remove large piles of trash bags from sidewalks in Brooklyn. The initiative targets some of the borough's most densely populated residential zones. Sanitation crews began placing the new infrastructure on Thursday.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Sanitation Commissioner Gregory Anderson announced the start of the installation process. They unveiled the first units in Brooklyn Heights. The program covers Downtown Brooklyn, Boerum Hill, Dumbo, Clinton Hill, and the Navy Yard. More than 700 Empire Bins are being installed in these areas.

The bins are being placed in front of residential buildings that contain more than 30 units. Officials stated that the rollout for this specific section of Brooklyn will be completed by the end of the fall. A newly purchased garbage truck will service the containers by lifting and emptying them.

According to a city sanitation department analysis, the new bins will replace approximately 768 of the 23,795 on-street parking spaces in the target area. City data indicates that more than 31% of households in these neighborhoods own at least one vehicle. Some specific neighborhoods may lose up to 10% of their available parking spots to the new infrastructure.

The city currently requires buildings with nine or fewer units to use a smaller, official NYC Bin. Buildings with 10 to 30 units have the option to join the Empire Bin program. By the end of this year, the placement of trash bag piles on the curb will be prohibited in the targeted Brooklyn area. Recycling bags remain permitted on the sidewalk.

The target area is home to 138,000 residents. Mamdani said that every New Yorker deserves clean streets and sidewalks. He noted that residents have long walked past piles of bags that attract rats and create odors. He stated that the city is changing that dynamic.

City Councilmember Crystal Hudson, who supported legislation mandating the continuation of the rollout, said the days of dodging trash bags and rats on sidewalks are numbered. She expressed pride in the progress being made. The previous administration under Mayor Eric Adams introduced the bins to Brooklyn in September of last year. That initial order placed them outside school buildings. This new deployment is the first time the containers are being used for residential buildings in the borough and in such a dense area of the city.

Rat sightings in Harlem decreased after a pilot program installed bins in that neighborhood. Officials expect similar results across the five boroughs if the city fully containerizes its waste. The city plans to expand the program next year. Installations are scheduled for Hunts Point and University Heights in the Bronx, Sunnyside in Queens, the West Village in Manhattan, Prospect Heights in Brooklyn, and the North Shore of Staten Island.

Clarence Gilliam, a local resident, was parking near the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Thursday. He said he has no plans to stop driving, even if finding parking becomes more difficult. He described the trade-off as acceptable if it eliminates the rat problem. He urged the city to make parking easier for residents as a result.