23,000 Proper Places to Put ‘Walking Trash’
By NYC Department of Sanitation
The Department of Sanitation works to combat litter every day with a variety of tools that include motorized litter patrols, enforcement officers and education campaigns. We also rely on New Yorkers as partners in keeping the city clean, and we frequently remind residents that they have a legal and moral responsibility to put litter in its proper place. In some — but not all — cases, that proper place is a corner litter basket.
In a city of 8.8 million people, the Department of Sanitation maintains more than 23,000 litter baskets across the five boroughs (you can even view a map of them online!). As we service these baskets on a regular basis, we encounter both misuse of the baskets and routine questions about how and where we site them — and it is important we remind New Yorkers about their proper use.
These baskets are designed to handle a normal amount of what we would consider “walking trash,” that it, coffee cups, candy wrappers and other small items you might need to dispose of while walking a city street. They are not for bales of straw, large oscillating fans, vacuum cleaners, microwaves, giant bags of household trash or Christmas trees — all of which we have seen in recent months. (Remember, if you have regular household trash, there’s no need to take it anywhere — we will collect up to six bags of trash, right in front of your home!)
You may have noticed we employ a variety of baskets on city streets. The most common are simple wire baskets, but we also have higher-end models that are paid for by the offices of local elected officials or Business Improvement Districts.
We’re always open to suggestions for places to site wire baskets. If you see a corner that can use a litter basket, complete this online form or call 311. Not all requests are approved — litter baskets are generally placed at commercial street corners with a high volume of pedestrian traffic along standard collection routes so that we can service them regularly.
In some cases, litter baskets can fill more quickly than we can service them. Businesses, organizations or local residents can volunteer with our Adopt-a-Basket Program to help keep litter baskets from overflowing. With this program, Sanitation provides a regular supply of free plastic liners, a collection schedule, work gloves, a dust bin and broom. We ask that volunteers monitor their litter baskets; when they’re three-quarters full, volunteers remove the used plastic liners, tie them, leave them next to the basket and insert a new liner. There is a signup form at the bottom of this page.
Again, we rely on New Yorkers as partners in keeping the city clean. Please put litter in its proper place. And if you see litter out of place, please call 311 so that we can address it.
