Spanish armada of garbage bins to invade NYC parking spaces as part of 'trash revolution'

Spanish trash containers will be at the vanguard of New York City’s “trash revolution.”

City records show the sanitation department is finalizing an order of up to 1,500 large bins from the Madrid-based company Contenur, and they will be installed in parking spaces across West Harlem starting in May, according to officials.

The department plans to begin rolling out the containers in front of buildings with more than 31 units. It’s an early phase in the city’s push to replace piles of trash bags on sidewalks with bins with secure lids where residents can dump their garbage.

Sanitation department spokesperson Joshua Goodman said the new bins will be emptied by a fleet of brand new garbage trucks. Instead of loading trash bags into the rear, the new trucks have special arms on their sides that automatically lift and dump the bins.

Goodman said the department will have 12 of the new trucks to service the incoming containers. They’ll only be used in West Harlem, where the city is testing out streetside containers before rolling them out across the five boroughs.

The sanitation department is set to finalize the contract for the Spanish bins later this month. The proposed contract allows the city to spend up to $700,000 a year on the containers over the next decade, and officials said the contract also covers the bins' installation and cleaning.

The new bins expand a pilot program launched last year in West Harlem, where multiple residential buildings share communal on-street bins. But the next round of bins will be deployed in front of larger buildings, and each building will be assigned a designated container.

City Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who represents much of West Harlem and chairs the City Council's sanitation committee, said the pilot has been a success over the last year and has reduced rat-related complaints in the area.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled that Barcelona is making its way to New York City — but unfortunately for the rats, that means no tapas for them to sink their teeth into,” he said in a statement.

The streetside bins that are already in place in West Harlem are set on wheels and have lids that anyone can open. Goodman said the new ones will be stationary and will have locks that can only be opened by residents of the buildings they're assigned to.

Esther Yoon, who lives on a West Harlem block where the on-street containers are being tested, said the change has cleaned up her street.

“It’s improved our quality of life, just walking up and down the block, so much,” said Yoon. “We don't have garbage bags on the sidewalk anymore. And it's also reduced the rats by at least 50%.”

She also said she drives everyday, but isn't worried about the loss of parking spots from the containers. “I think there's far too many cars that are just stored on the street,” added Yoon, 44. “They don't actually use their cars.”

Some neighborhoods could see a loss of parking as the city's "trash revolution" trudges ahead, though sanitation officials said they’ve found ways to reduce the amount of street space that will be occupied by the bins.

Ronald Fields, a building superintendent on the Upper West Side, said he wasn’t looking forward to the expansion of on-street containers in his neighborhood, which sanitation officials expect will happen in the coming years.

“The bike racks have taken the parking spots away,” said Fields, 78. “ The bike lanes have taken parking spots away."

Fields said the city could have solved its rat problem by increasing composting rates and working to reduce the overall volume of trash that people produce.

In November, buildings with fewer than 10 units will be required to use smaller wheeled bins with secure lids. The sanitation department plans to offer either an on-street container or wheeled bins to owners of buildings with between 10 and 30 units, but currently has no timeline for that rollout.