Garbage Theory #4: Clean Streets… For Now



by on Sep 11th, 2012

GARBAGE GAZETTE: In our last edition of Garbage Gazette: Garbage Theory, we deemed the corner “officially a mess” after Sanitation workers failed to empty it on their Tuesday route, and garbage piled up to the point of mini-avalanches.

Friday morning the can was emptied, and again this morning.

On Friday, however, the can was emptied but remnants of the trash pile remained, with litter and debris swirling around the can, and bottles still clogging the sewer drain. Over the weekend, the can neared being full again, and some had placed tied up shopping bags around it. When workers came today, it looks like they must have also brought their brooms, and properly cleaned the corner.

Good on them.

Perhaps our Garbage Theory series will not only tell us whether or not adding a trash can to a corner makes it more messy, but also how often a can needs to be emptied in order to prevent a mess.

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  • Guest

    Cleaning that corner is the responsibility of the property owner on that corner. They must also clean 18″ into the street. It is every property owner’s responsibility to maintain the front of their property. This is true of residential as well as commercial.


    • barkingspider07

      Not necessarily.  That is a corner with a DSNY garbage can.  It is up to the garbage men to empty that can at least twice weekly, and clean the mess around it – but then again, the garbage men have never done their jobs right in Sheepshead Bay.  They are just as dirty and filthy as some of our residents.  I have lived here for over 50 years – I can tell you how they don’t work.  It is up to property owners to clean in front of their properties, but not do the work that the DSNY is paid extremely well to do.


      • Guest2

         ”They are just as dirty and filthy as some of our residents”

        The problem is confusing cause and effect. People are dumping household trash and many other things in and around the trash cans and then they (but most likely other responsible people) complain that their trash doesn’t get removed. Why is it so difficult to put your own trash (I am not talking about your soda cup or wrapper when you are walking) into your own trash bin? People through everything on the street, it does not happen by itself. Unfortunately, many of these people live in Sheepshead Bay. Many other neighborhoods are pretty clean, take a guess why. Not because the DSNY are cleaning there more often.

        But for most peple it’s easier to complain and try to fix the effect that eliminating the cause!


  • Eric

    Fascinating story! Journalism at its best!