Council to Residents: Stuff Your Trash at Home

How many times have you tried to throw out an ATM receipt or a half-empty French fry box, only to discover the nearest city cans overflowing with someone’s household trash?

If a handful of city council members get their way, New Yorkers who use public cans for their private trash will find their wallet a lot lighter.

City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, D-Forest Hills, along with fellow council members Peter Vallone Jr., D-Astoria, and Eric Ulrich, R-Ozone Park, announced new legislation on Sunday that would double the possible fines on trash bandits across the city.

In 2011, the Department of Sanitation issued more than 3,600 summonses to residents for dumping their household garbage in the curbside cans.

Under the proposed new rules, first-time dumpers would get a $200 fine, with a $500 fine coming for the second violation. On the third strike, the fine would increase to $600.

“This legislation is important in protecting the quality of life for residents and commercial areas alike,” Koslowitz said. “Overflowing garbage pails are a major cause of street pollution that leads to problems such as mice and rats. This bill places steep fines on those who illegally use public pails for their own personal use.”

The law comes from a highly-publicized moment of frustration on the part of Vallone, who posted a picture of an overflowing can near Astoria's Ditmars Boulevard subway stop on Facebook.

He rifled through the trash, and found a catalogue with the name and address of the resident who had allegedly dumped it.

Since then, his quest to get the guilty party fined has grown into a citywide crusade.

“Clearly more can be done when it comes to the abuses of our city garbage cans. We need to step up enforcement and increase the fine in order to stop these litter pigs from overflowing our garbage cans,” Vallone said.

Council member Letitia James, of Brooklyn, chair of the council’s sanitation committee, said she would support the legislation.