At the time, the bill\u2019s sponsor, former City Council member Diana Ayala (D-Manhattan\/Bronx), said that the problem of syringes in public spaces had left the council without other good options.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is better than the alternative that I have, which is allowing syringe litter to coexist in public spaces where someone can come in contact with that syringe litter,\u201d she said during a hearing over the bill.<\/p>\n
Dirty, used syringes strewn about public places have remained a stubborn problem, especially in several hot spots across the city. Last year, Adams launched a large, multiagency cleanup effort of Roberto Clemente Plaza at \u201cThe Hub\u201d in the South Bronx following months of public complaints and campaigning from local elected officials<\/a> and small business leaders.<\/p>\n The city\u2019s Sanitation Department has a special crew dedicated to syringe cleanup, but efforts like nonprofit syringe service programs, dedicated sharps collection locations in public parks and the syringe redemption program now give people who use drugs or concerned community members more ways of safely disposing of syringes.<\/p>\n White mobile vans operated by Addiction Response Resources rotate through eight locations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, five days a week, targeting areas with high community need.\n<\/p>\n The initiative combines safe syringe disposal with harm reduction education; participants who are 18 years or older receive training on safe syringe collection before joining the program. Participants are paid 20 cents per syringe, up to 50 syringes, meaning a person can make up to $10 a day collecting and returning the hazardous waste. As part of enrollment, participants also learn about reporting injuries and how to use Naloxone to reverse an opioid overdose.\u00a0<\/p>\n The current pilot contract, funded with more than $11 million, will run through the end of 2027. City Hall has not yet responded to a request for comment.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n In more than one year of operating in New York City, Addiction Response Resources has reported collecting more than 2 million syringes; by comparison, city officials reported that NYC Sanitation collected nearly 200,000 syringes in 2024.<\/p>\n Still, the program rubs some people the wrong way, with critics commonly expressing distaste for giving money to participants who may be drug users, although that is not a requirement of the program.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Addiction](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-20-at-4.28.38-PM.jpg\" "\\"Safe")
Addiction Response Resources uses white vans to collect used syringes around the city and pay participants for them. The organization originally started the program in Boston and has since expanded to NYC. Photo: Addiction Response Resources\n<\/p>\n