NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue has recently introduced a new initiative aimed at combating rat infestations in the city’s parks. Donoghue announced that the city has installed pizza-friendly disposal bins, which accommodate the bulky boxes that are difficult to fit into traditional garbage cans and often result in leftovers for rodents.
The first of six new square bins was placed in Father Demo Square in Greenwich Village earlier this month, with the rest being rolled out on Friday across various city parks. This move marks the latest effort by New York City to wage war against its rat population.
We all know that you shouldn’t try to fit a square peg into a round hole, which is why we’re deploying special trash cans just for pizza boxes to parks throughout the five boroughs,” said Donoghue. Mayor Eric Adams hopes these new tan containers with “empty pizza boxes only” labels will help keep the streets clean and deter rats from scavenging around.
Notably, the mayor has previously tried to tackle the rat problem by appointing a “rat czar” and working with “anti-rat activists.” Each of these new bins retails for about $950 each, as reported by Gothamist. The square bins are positioned alongside traditional garbage and recycling receptacles, providing an additional option for disposing of pizza boxes in a way that is less likely to attract rats.
The Central Park Conservancy set up a similar pilot program back in May near the Great Lawn. This green-colored bin is part of a larger effort by the conservancy to keep the park’s trash under control, as they can remove more than 100 boxes from this area alone on a busy day.
The Central Park bin made its debut just one day after Mayor Adams announced the first “National Urban Rat Summit,” scheduled for September with the aim of discussing “best practices on rodent mitigation.” The new pizza disposal bins and related initiatives are expected to play a significant role in this ongoing effort to control New York City’s rat population.
