Read the full article here.

By Manuela Silva

Mayor Eric Adams announced on Thursday that all of Community Board 9 will receive on-street containers and new automated side-loading trucks starting in spring 2025 as an expansion of District 7’s trash containerization program, becoming the first fully-containerized district. While CB9 leaders say that they have not yet seen a plan for the program, they are excited about the announcement and hope to soon be able to provide feedback based on the pilot.

Adams originally announced in October 2023 that trash containerization would come to all of New York City, but did not announce a timeline. The new timeframe for the program comes five months after New York City Council member Shaun Abreu, CC ’14, launched a pilot program in District 7 in September. Adams declared the program successful one month after it began.

Abreu, who was recently appointed to chair the New York City committee on sanitation and solid waste management, said he was proud that “West Harlem and Morningside Heights are leading from out front” in the movement for clean streets.

“In West Harlem, where residents have experienced the worst rat infestations in the entire city for decades, trash management has never been equal,” Abreu said in a statement following the announcement. “I know it because I see and hear it from my constituents every day. By expanding our containerization pilot program, we are finally putting West Harlem at the decision table when it comes to their right to live in rodent-free neighborhoods.”