New York City is to restrict the hours that trash can be left on sidewalks to after 8pm in an effort to curb the city’s exploding rodent population.
From 1 April, households and businesses will no longer be able to take out their garbage at 4pm, Mayor Eric Adams announced at a joint press conference with New York City Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch on Monday.
Residents will be able to drop their trash from 6pm as long as bags are put in sealed containers, the officials said.
Mr Adams said the new measure would reduce the amount of time that piles of trash were in the streets, removing unpleasant smells and sights from the city while deterring rats from venturing out in search of food.
“Everyone who knows me knows one thing: I hate rats,” Mr Adams told the news conference.
“Rats have no place in this city.”
“The biggest swing that you can take at cleaning up our streets is to shut down the all-night, all-you-can-eat rat buffet,” Ms Tisch said.
NYC Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who introduced the legislation to reduce trash dumping hours, told media: “This is not ‘Ratatouille,’ rats are not our friends.”