Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

NYC Rat Sightings (Daily)

realtime.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 89 posts

Re: NYC Rat Sightings (Daily)

#32

Post by tetromino_ »

screenoridesaga wrote: post #28
tetromino_ wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bags of garbage are a historical relic. The city allowed trash in bags during as an emergency measure during the 1968 garbage collectors' strike: the metal trash bins were overflowing and garbage on the street in bags was better than garbage on the street raw. The strike ended, decades passed, but the rules were never updated until the last couple years when the city has finally began strongly incentivizing, and…

That explanation sounds real, but it isn’t. Really weird, why make something like this up?

I did not make it up; I read it at https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2022/03/22/trash-city-new-york-i... (see "Hooked on plastic" section in the article).

If you believe that this account is wrong, I am interested in hearing the true story, and seeing some sources if you have them.

Re: NYC Rat Sightings (Daily)

#34

Post by mschuster91 »

otoburb wrote: post #12
mschuster91 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other large cities manage to have trash bins on wheels to collect trash without making it a garbagefest for the rats and other vermin.

There was a NYT article recently asking this very same question[1] with some background information about the pecularities specific to NYC which make the problem more complex. Obviously, this could be fixed, but would likely meet with fierce resistance from many constituents. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/02/upshot/nyc-tr...

> but there’s also a growing number of bins chained to bike racks and sewer grates to prevent people from stealing them.

This is fucking wild. Who in their right mind steals trash bins? What would one even want to do with trash bins?

Re: NYC Rat Sightings (Daily)

#36

Post by nsp »

mschuster91 wrote: post #34
otoburb wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a NYT article recently asking this very same question[1] with some background information about the pecularities specific to NYC which make the problem more complex. Obviously, this could be fixed, but would likely meet with fierce resistance from many constituents. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/02/upshot/nyc-tr...

> but there’s also a growing number of bins chained to bike racks and sewer grates to prevent people from stealing them. This is fucking wild. Who in their right mind steals trash bins? What would one even want to do with trash bins?

As someone who lives in Brooklyn and moved into a place where I was responsible for trash a couple weeks ago, it took ~1 week for someone to swipe my rolling trash bin, graffiti it, burn a couple holes and leave it a few blocks away. No idea why, but it definitely made putting bags on the street more appealing

Re: NYC Rat Sightings (Daily)

#37

Post by jerrysievert »

mschuster91 wrote: post #34
otoburb wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a NYT article recently asking this very same question[1] with some background information about the pecularities specific to NYC which make the problem more complex. Obviously, this could be fixed, but would likely meet with fierce resistance from many constituents. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/02/upshot/nyc-tr...

> but there’s also a growing number of bins chained to bike racks and sewer grates to prevent people from stealing them. This is fucking wild. Who in their right mind steals trash bins? What would one even want to do with trash bins?

my recycling bin got stolen multiple times in Portland, but mostly because they are handy totes.

locally, garbage companies (not sure if just some, or all) scan the barrels and verify they are both at the right address and paid before picking them up.

Re: NYC Rat Sightings (Daily)

#40

Post by Quinner »

Symbiote wrote: post #24
RandallBrown wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The purpose is so that garbage trucks can collect the trash. NYC has very few alleys.

The options seem to be: - Sacks of rubbish left on the street, potentially for many hours (e.g. café closes at 18.00, rubbish is left outside until collection at 05.00-07.00). London has this in some central areas. [0] (took about 3 tries to find this.) - Individual bins (usually with wheels) for each property, which must be left at the front of the property. It can seem excessive if there's not much space to store t…

- Also in NYC (Roosevelt Island) have every building hooked up to pneumatic tubes and suck it all into a central collection location.

https://www.npr.org/2017/07/26/539304811/how-new-york-s-roos...

Post reply on HN