A recent ticketing blitz by the sanitation department is taking aim at New Yorkers who put their garbage out too early.
In the past four months, the department issued more than 28,337 tickets across the five boroughs to people and businesses who don’t heed the new trash bag setout times of 8 p.m., according to city data.
That’s more than $1.4 million in potential fines from the summonses, though sanitation department spokesperson Joshua Goodman noted that people who successfully appeal the tickets won’t have to pay the $50 fine.
The uptick in summonses comes as the city in April changed the time to put out curbside trash bags from 4 p.m. to four hours later in an effort to reduce the time mountains of bags languish on sidewalks, where they feed rats and other vermin.
“Regarding the number of summonses, we don’t enforce for enforcement’s sake. We enforce so that people will comply with the new rules, which are making the city noticeably cleaner,” said sanitation department spokesperson Vincent Gragnani.
In comparison, during the same time period last year the city issued 12,592 similar trash violations — less than half of the amount given out during the current campaign.
Enforcement focused on the city’s highest-density areas, with Manhattan’s East Village, the Lower East Side and Chinatown receiving the most tickets, according to sanitation department data. There was also robust ticketing in the Upper West and East Sides, Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea and Harlem, as well as Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy and Bushwick in Brooklyn.
There was large increase in the number of summonses issued in every borough this year.
Manhattan was close behind with 7,510 summonses issued during that time period, while the Bronx had 6,148, Queens had 5,826 and Staten Island had 1,240.
The new policy allows residents who have trash cans with secured lids to put bins at the curb as early as 6 p.m. on collection days. And owners of businesses that close before 8 p.m. can put garbage…
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