New York City’s long-running battle against trash bags piled on sidewalks — and the rats that feast on them — is ramping up in Brooklyn.

The city will start rolling out stationary on-street containers known as Empire Bins in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill this fall, Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday.

What You Need To Know

  • The city will start rolling out stationary on-street containers known as Empire Bins in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill this fall

  • The initiative builds on what officials say has been a successful pilot in West Harlem, where 1,100 containers were recently installed

  • The city’s push to containerize trash comes after decades of complaints about black bags lining sidewalks and attracting rats

The Department of Sanitation will begin placing the rat-resistant curbside bins outside schools in the two neighborhoods before installing them at every school and high-density residential building in Brooklyn Community District 2 next year, the mayor said in a release.

The district — which also includes downtown Brooklyn, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Fulton Ferry, DUMBO, Vinegar Hill and the Brooklyn Navy Yard — will be the second in the city with fully containerized trash when the rollout is complete, the release said.

The initiative builds on what officials say has been a successful pilot in West Harlem, where 1,100 containers were recently installed. 

Acting Sanitation Commissioner Javier Lojan called the move “the most significant” innovation he has seen in his time with DSNY.

“Bin by bin, we are proving the naysayers wrong and showing the world that New York City can have clean streets and sidewalks, just like cities around the world have done for decades,” Lojan said in a statement.

The city’s push to containerize trash — part of what Adams has dubbed his “Trash Revolution” — comes after decades of complaints about black bags lining sidewalks and attracting rats.

In Brooklyn Community District 2, schools and buildings with more than 30 units will be required to use Empire Bins, accessible with a key card for property managers.

Smaller buildings with 10 to 30 units will be given the choice of adopting an Empire Bin or using smaller wheeled containers, which are already required for buildings with up to nine units citywide.

City officials say the bins will be serviced by newly designed side-loading garbage trucks.

“Every day, we are making our city cleaner, safer, and a better place to raise a family, unless you’re a rat,” Adams said in a statement.