Overview

• Sanitation crews will place on-street containers at schools first this fall, then extend them to every school and high-density residential building across Brooklyn Community District 2 next year.
• Brooklyn Community District 2, which includes Downtown Brooklyn, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Vinegar Hill, Fulton Ferry and the Navy Yard, is slated to become the city’s second fully containerized district.
• Buildings with 31 or more units will be required to use Empire Bins with keycard access, while 10–30 unit properties may choose an Empire Bin or smaller wheeled containers; properties with up to nine units already must use lidded bins.
• The locked, rat-resistant containers will be serviced by newly designed side-loading garbage trucks, an operational shift city officials describe as a significant innovation.
• The Brooklyn rollout follows a West Harlem pilot that installed about 1,100 bins, part of Mayor Eric Adams’ “Trash Revolution” that targets a citywide expansion in 2026.