City Hall, union strike deal on NYC trash pickup in bid to curb rodent feasts on streets

City Hall and New York’s major building staff union have struck a deal that officials hope will help combat the Big Apple’s rat epidemic by cutting the amount of time trash bags sit on the street overnight, sources say.

The deal with 32BJ SEIU means that most large buildings in the five boroughs will now put their trash on the curb at 8 pm — instead of the current 4 pm, which officials say may be the earliest times anywhere in the country.

Additionally, the agreement would allow building owners to register for routes that would allow them to set out their trash early in the morning — between 4 am and 7 am — if that better fits staffing schedules.

Mayor Eric Adams and Sanitation Commissioner Jessie Tisch are set to announce the new program at an afternoon City Hall press conference Monday.

Officials have argued for the program, saying that allowing bags to sit out on the streets for hours on end effectively created a citywide ‘all-you-can’ buffet for rats, providing rocket fuel for the city’s widespread vermin problems.

“All the pieces of this are going to substantially reduce the number of hours that the trash is out there,” said an official. “This is an overall strategy for rat reduction.”

The Department of Sanitation first previewed the potential rule change in July. The deal between the administration and the politically powerful union was first reported by Politico New York.

City Hall and the Sanitation Department have also rolled out a separate pilot program in at least two neighborhoods that aims to curb the rat problem by having residents and businesses put their trash bags in storage containers located on each block.

The new trash container bins have been rolled out in Times Square and in Brooklyn Heights along Montague Street. City Hall has promised the pilot program will be expanded to include locations in all five boroughs.