Trash Containerization to Expand to Downtown Manhattan by 2027

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is kicking trash bags to the curb.

The mayor is pushing forward on the implementation of citywide trash containerization by the end of 2031. To meet this deadline, the administration announced it would be moving “aggressively” and expanding the plans to six more New York City districts by the end of 2027.

Among them is Manhattan Community District 2, which covers the neighborhoods of the West Village, SoHo, Little Italy, Greenwich Village, and Nolita. Residential buildings with more than 30 units will be assigned Empire Bins over the next year. In total, this phase will roll out 6,500 of the large bins.

“It is encouraging to see this work begin to scale across the city,” said Council Member Crystal Hudson, who sponsored the bill to implement the containers citywide. “Containerization is a critical tool in addressing our rat crisis and improving street cleanliness.”

The program began in the administration of the Mayor Eric Adam, who was known as the anti-rat mayor. In 2024, he led an effort to require businesses and residential buildings with one to nine units to dispose of trash using smaller wheeled bins.

In June 2025, the larger Empire Bins were introduced in West Harlem and Morningside Heights for a pilot program. West Harlem saw rat sightings decrease by 25 percent, according to 311 data.

Residential buildings with 10 to 30 units will have the option to implement the Empire Bins. Otherwise, they will be required to implement the wheeled bins.

Many have reacted positively to the expansion, expressing how the current system is not only unsightly but also takes up significant sidewalk space.

“Community Board 2 has chronic sanitation issues that clog busy streets and create real quality-of-life problems for residents, workers and visitors,” said Council Member Christopher Marte, who endorsed the new bin program.

However, some have expressed concerns over the number of parking spots the bins will take. In 2023, the Department of Sanitation released a report estimating that the bins could eliminate around 150,000 parking spots across all five boroughs.

There are roughly 3 million parking spots in the city, meaning that five percent of spaces would be affected. In 2023, there were 2.2 million registered vehicles in the city, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. On street parking has always been a challenge.

The five other districts that will be getting the Empire Bins by the end of 2027 are Brooklyn Community District 8, Bronx Community District 2, Bronx Community District 5, Queens Community District 2, and Staten Island Community District 1. Brooklyn Community District 2 is also scheduled to receive the bins by this fall, meaning eight districts could be containerized by the end of 2027.

Mamdani pledged to continue Adams’ work on the containers when he took office, noting how the state of the city’s waste removal has continuously fallen short of the city’s financial resources.

“By finishing the job on containerization, we will ensure New York City’s streets remain the envy of the world,” Mamdani said.