The Real Estate Board of New York to The City Council Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management on Waste Receptacle Legislation

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The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) is the City’s leading real estate trade association. Founded in 1896, REBNY represents commercial, residential, and institutional property owners, builders, managers, investors, brokers, salespeople and other organizations and individuals active in New York City real estate. We appreciate the opportunity to testify on legislation concerning the expansion of waste containerization requirements.

Bill: 0949-2024

Subject: This bill would require anyone who manages a building with 100 dwelling units or more to provide a dumpster that is at least 20 yards long.

Sponsors: Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Council Members Nurse, Louis, Restler, Hanif, Hudson, Brewer, Won and Gutiérrez

REBNY supports the City’s ongoing efforts to store and place on the curb waste that is containerized, including with a sealed lid. However, many, if not most, large residential buildings will lack space for the container that this bill would require. In addition, if a building were able to accommodate such a container in the interior of the building, it is not clear how these containers would be serviced by the Department of Sanitation. For these reasons, the approach proposed by the bill is not feasible.

Bill: T2024-2744

Subject:

This proposed legislation would require the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) to establish a citywide system whereby residential buildings with 31 units or more would place waste in stationary, on-street containers with sealed lids. Building with 9 to 30 units could opt into this system. DSNY would service the containers with trucks with hydraulic arms.

Sponsors: Council Member Hudson

REBNY supports the City’s efforts to remove plastic garbage bags from the sidewalks and commends the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) for its effective rollout of programs to require smaller residential buildings and commercial establishments to containerize their waste. Larger residential buildings, which currently place their waste on the curb in plastic bags for collection by the Department, present a unique challenge. Given the vast number of buildings and the uniqueness of each building – both in terms of the volume of waste produced, the ability to store that waste in a container inside the building before it is collected, and the staffing of the building – containerization mandates for larger buildings can be complex to implement.

For this reason, we generally support efforts to establish on-street waste containers as the method of servicing residential waste from larger buildings in place of trash bags on the curb. The potential benefits of on-street containers and new hydraulic trucks will promote healthier and cleaner sidewalks, fight rats, and protect worker safety.

The key to seeing those potential benefits will depend on a very deliberate and careful approach to implementation so that trash does not pile up on streets on a daily basis. While we generally support the proposal, we believe elements of the bill can be improved in order to ensure the benefits are realized.

First, the legislation would allow DSNY to charge a per unit fee of not more than $55 to pay for the containerization program. It is not clear to us why the City of New York – with a $112 billion annual budget – needs to charge an additional fee to residential owners in order to collect trash. The City should be able to pay for improved collection services through its existing municipal budget. If more funds are needed, DSNY must be much more transparent with the public about how those funds will be used and minimize the impact of any cost increase on owners and tenants.

In addition, the proposed legislation requires DSNY to make any fee "wholly or partially discounted" for Mitchell-Lama developments but appears to authorize DSNY to charge fees to all other buildings with residential units. If a fee is going to be authorized, we believe that there is no basis to exempt only Mitchell-Lama developments from the proposed fee. Either all buildings should pay the per unit fee or additional types of units/buildings should be eligible for a complete or partial discount. We believe the same type of exemption/reduction should apply to buildings with 100% affordable, supportive, or senior housing. In addition, we believe an exemption/reduction should apply to any rent-regulated or income-restricted unit not otherwise captured in the proposed building-level exemptions.

Finally, the bill only addresses waste collection, and it is quiet on recycling and organics that are also collected by DSNY. Going forward, it will be important to clarify how these services will be provided alongside on-street waste containers as without some clarification, this issue will lead to confusion.

Bill: T2024-2775

Subject:

This bill would require DSNY to distribute free official bins to buildings with up to 9 dwelling units. It would also require DSNY to set up a one-year program to reimburse those who purchased bins prior to this bill taking effect.

Sponsor: Council Member Salaam, the Public Advocate (Mr. Williams), and Council Members Hudson, Borelli, Brannan, Williams, Abreu and Louis

Under DSNY’s current approach, residents in buildings with up to 9 units would have to buy bins for around $50. This bill shifts the cost burden to the City. As stated before, REBNY strongly supports containerizing waste. In addition, we believe that essential services like trash collection should be paid for through the City’s budget. Therefore, we support the City providing free waste bins to those living in buildings with 9 or fewer dwelling units.

Thank you once again for this opportunity to comment on the proposed legislation.