(THE VILLAGER) Gabe Herman, April 18, 2019

Lower Manhattan’s residential population has nearly tripled since 9/11, which means a lot of growth but also a problem: more garbage to deal with.

The Alliance for Downtown New York released a guide in early March for how residents and building managers can reduce waste, including the garbage left out on streets.

“The increasing amount of residential waste on our narrow sidewalks,” the guide notes, “has emerged as a top quality of life concern.”

The Downtown Alliance is a business improvement district, or BID. It has a 60-person sanitation team that bags 1,500 tons of trash and collects 250 tons of recycled objects annually. But while BID employees can empty street trash cans, the BID is not allowed to handle residential waste. That job is reserved for the city’s Department of Sanitation.

“This is one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in the city,” said Jessica Lappin, the president of the Downtown Alliance, in a statement. “We are releasing this guide to try and change behavior, identify best practices and reduce waste.”

There are now more than 62,000 residents in Lower Manhattan. The guide was made with input from residents, building managers, property owners, consultants and city agencies.

The guide notes that residents can cut down on waste by recycling, which residents are doing at just a 21 percent rate citywide, according to the Department of Sanitation.

Source: The Villager, BID offers tips for slashing the trash