New York City discovers a revolutionary technology: the bin

AH NEW YORK, how it sparkles—from afar. Street level is a different experience. Smelly rubbish mounds create trash-fjords on city pavements, with buildings on one side and piles of black bin-bags on the other. New Yorkers know to lift their feet to avoid the garbage juice that leaks from the bags. Rats feed on the bags, startling even the hardiest citizens. For decades New York endured this, nay accepted it, but no more. A massive “containerisation programme” is under way. The piles of black bin-bags are being replaced by a technology new to the city: secure bins.On October 11th Eric Adams, New York City’s mayor, and Jessica Tisch, his sanitation commissioner, announced that from autumn of 2024 buildings with nine or fewer residential units will be required to place all trash in secure containers. That will cover 765,000 buildings, or 95% of the city’s residential properties. It follows similar measures for commercial trash, which amounts to roughly 20m pounds (9m kg) a day, announced last month. Container rules for the city’s 40,000 food-related businesses, including restaurants, grocers and bodegas, were implemented over the summer. Altogether 70% of the city’s waste is heading into containers.