Fun fact that most renters don't realize? Property owners can (and frequently are) ticketed for the litter outside their buildings. And what offends a ticketing sanitation cop can include furniture and sometimes, as in the case of Queensman Raymond Janson, trash cans out for pick ups. Hey, people gotta make their (totally not real) quotas somehow! more ›

Since the Department of Sanitation began hiring women in 1986, there have been about 300 to hold the title of New York's Strongest—around 12 per year. 36-year-old Mary Ellen Connolly, who will be sworn in as a new Sanitation worker by Mayor Bloomberg on Wednesday, doesn't understand why. "I wish some of my girlfriends would do it. It's a great job." more ›

Once upon a time, the Project for Public Spaces lauded Seventh Avenue in Park Slope for many reasons, including, "For a busy New York City street, 7th Ave is fairly clean. There are trash cans on every corner, and members of the neighborhood care enough about it to avoid littering." But lately, it's been a lot stinkier. That's because no one is picking up the trash: more ›

Yesterday, the NY Post reported that the FAA redrew the boundaries of Laguardia Airport's "safety zone" to allow for a huge trash facility. And since birds love trash, there are concerns that it'll become bird strike central, a la Flight 1549 (more fodder for the Post's war on birds). Which is why Flight 1549 hero Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger has waded into the debate. And he thinks this is "terrible." more ›

New York City-based artist and self-proclaimed “recovering advertising art director” Justin Gignac made a bet with a co-worker back in 2001 that he could sell people garbage if the packaging was right. (He talks about this around the 8:30 mark in the video below.) He picked up authentic trash from the "fertile" streets of New York City, encased it, and signed and numbered each little package—all “limited editions." The cubes are still selling 10 years later. more ›

Today's lesson: Sanitation Department workers aren't all as lovable as Roc. When they have bad days, they will make sure someone feels their wrath. Darbe Pitofsky, an 83-year-old Upper East Sider, learned this lesson the hard way. She says that she was recently chased down and screamed at by a sanitation agent; then given a $100 fine, all for dumping her trash in a corner trash receptacle. more ›

After a "contracting crew using miniature cameras to examine underground pipelines" spotted a large bag in a Jersey City sewage pipe this morning, they contacted the fire department and police. The police looked at the images and believed a large hand was coming out of the bag. Now, one three-hour operation later (complete with hovering news copters), WABC 7 reports there was no hand and the bag was just garbage. more ›

Love that chicken? Maybe not so much. An East New York Popeyes that's been out of business for several weeks is filled with thousands of flies (dead and live), and the garbage they so love is spewing out around the restaurant itself, according to the Daily News. And, surprise surprise, no one wants to clean it up! more ›

For over two years, the city has wanted to build a sanitation garage in SoHo on Spring Street. And at every step of the way, those plans have been blocked by a ragtag cadre of downtown celebrities, a renegade group of disparate actors, musicians and personalities who were willing to fight to the last breath to prevent the common man's garbage from clogging their block. They were the Ocean's Eleven of...trash. But a court has now rejected the appeals to the project, and given the go ahead for the garage to be built. more ›

First catpacks, and now solar garbage cans... what can't Park Slope deliver? According to FIPS, some "Big Belly solar powered garbage cans are going to be installed in various spots along Fifth Avenue. They are apparently each outfitted with a solar powered trash compactor, which reduces the need to empty them as much." more ›

Forget those mint-scented garbage bags that keep away rats, those aren't going to let your neighbors know how ridiculously wealthy you are—what will, are these Louis Vuitton garbage bags. They're not new to the market (Kanye was all over this ish back in February), but they did land on Curbed today in a designer-branded product post—meaning they're still around, meaning there's a market for these things (and yes, they've been spotted in NYC). more ›

We didn't need The Onion to remind us that the city is a bit of a "trash-ridden hellhole," but they were slightly off: the city is built on top of a trash-ridden hellhole. And a new, fascinating interview in this month's The Believer with Robin Nagle, the anthropologist-in-residence at New York City’s Department of Sanitation (DOS), reveals even more about the state of garbage in NYC. more ›

With countless mounds of trash piling up in the Middlesex County Landfill in NJ, local residents have found their olfactory systems under constant attack. And since it's been tried it in the Bronx and in Queens, the county will try to combat the smell with perfume. A flatbed truck equipped with special nozzles stalks through the garbage, releasing hundreds of gallons of a fragrant, soapy, slightly citrus-scented spray. In 2007, the county tried attaching deodorizing sprays to the landfill's fence, which didn't work, and gives added pressure to this scheme. Local resident Jerri Shink said, "It’s terrible...We go to the grocery store and my son tells people, ‘We live in the stinkiest part of town.’ You can’t open a window. At times it will permeate the walls." more ›

The last summons written for litter in Prospect Park was allegedly over 20 months ago, according to the Brooklyn Paper (though, what about that epic trash pile left after last summer's Heatwave BBQ?). The paper reports that Park Enforcement Patrol officers have written zero tickets for litter since 2008, but have issued 147 tickets for dogs that were not on a leash. more ›

Wired.com has a fascinating photo feature on the sanitation system that serves Roosevelt Island's 16 residential towers, which all rely on pneumatic tubes for their trash disposal. The system was installed 35 years ago and has a 40-year life expectancy, so Swedish contractors are constantly on the island unclogging jams and making repairs. "Trash zips through the pipes at an average of 30 mph, but it can reach speeds of 60 mph," writes Betsy Mason. But when the system grinds to a halt, it's time to send the Swedes crawling in. "The first time is scary," said a young Swedish pipe technician as he waited... for another Swede to come back from 50 feet down the pipe. "You get used to it." more ›

If the hope of a clean and healthy planet wasn't enough to get New Yorkers to think twice about what they toss, perhaps a new fee on trash will get that universal will to repurpose inspired. Mayor Bloomberg said he is considering charging people for how much they throw away as a way to plug the budget gap. Naturally, there has been some Karl Marx-inspired backlash. One Flushing resident told WCBS, "I don't think he can relate to the working class people. We don't have that kind of money, especially now. It is very unfair to us." more ›

Summer in the city means more trash in the parks—something Brooklynites were reminded of last year when Prospect Park kicked off the season with a nice thick layer of garbage. After 2009's July 4th holiday, we received plenty of photos documenting the littered fields, and later in the summer an unauthorized BBQ brought in even more trash and a rat infestation. But it's no surprise that last year may seem like nothing compared to this year's trashpocalypse, as the park's already been plagued with all sorts of weird discoveries in recent months. And yesterday the Brooklyn Paper's watchdog Gersh Kuntzman took his bike through the area to find this disaster awaiting him: more ›

The borough of Queens is the "trashiest" according to the Post, producing 160,000 tons of garbage last year. With an estimated population of 2,293,007, that means each Queens resident produced an average of .06 tons. However, overall trash produced was down a smidge to 2.5 million tons from 2.6 million in 2008, making this the fourth consecutive year of an output decline despite the city's growing population. Vito Turso of the Department of Sanitation said, "It's definitely recession driven." At least something good is coming out of the recession! more ›

Probably to the relief of Co-Op City residents, the Department of Health ordered the Department of Sanitation to remove tons of trash from the Bronx housing complex. Building workers have been on strike since Tuesday, claiming that RiverBay management wants to freeze their wages and walked away from negotiations, while RiverBay says that Local 32BJ was the one to walk away. more ›

The Co-Op City building workers strike continues, and residents are continuing to voice their concerns over the huge piles of garbage that could attract unwanted furry creatures. CBS 2 visited the scene, deeming it a "stinky mess" since the huge Bronx housing complex creates about, oh, 40 tons of garbage a day. more ›

Over 500 workers went on strike yesterday at Co-op City in the Bronx, and residents are starting to feel the pain. The workers were locked out of the complex by management once they learned of the strike, and now broken lights are going unfixed and the garbage is piling up. Tenant Leroy Dow told the Post, "The garbage is loose, which is a huge problem because there are a lot of raccoons around, especially at night. When it rains, the garbage will smell and attract rats." Could the complex be headed for a ratdemic? more ›