DSNY considers lowering threshold for infrequent or insignificant waste generators

The New York Department of Sanitation (DSNY) is proposing to amend its rules regarding infrequent generators of commercial waste to allow certain businesses to share containers, as well as mandate waste surveys for private carters who use a “flat” billing method. 

Section 16-116 of the New York City Administrative Code requires commercial establishments in the city to arrange for the removal of solid waste by a licensed private carter or by obtaining a trade waste permit from the New York City Business Integrity Commission (BIC) allowing for the disposal of its own waste. 

Any commercial establishment that generates infrequent or insignificant amounts of waste is exempt from these requirements, and the sanitation commissioner is to promulgate rules determining what constitutes infrequent or insignificant waste. 

City code currently states that commercial establishments must generate less than 20 gallons of trade waste within seven days to meet the definition.

DSNY’s proposed amendment would lower the threshold of trade waste considered to be infrequent or insignificant from 20 gallons to 1 gallon within seven days. The department says the reduction is “necessary,” citing commercial establishments that have been “setting out their trade waste at the curb for DSNY to collect or setting such material in DSNY street corner litter baskets” as the primary reason. 

“This rule will make it clear that a commercial establishment must retain a private carter to collect and remove trade waste generated at such establishment for proper disposal if such establishment generates more than 1 gallon of trade waste within a seven-day period,” DSNY said in a public hearing announcement for the proposed rules. 

Commercial establishments are already required to place their waste in a bin or container. The proposed rule will allow any commercial establishment that generates twenty gallons of waste or less in a week to share containers with another commercial establishment, provided that both entities are customers that have agreements with the same private carter. 

Private carters sometimes utilize a “flat” billing method where they charge a customer the same flat monthly fee based on an estimate of the average amount of waste the customer produces. Rules of the Business Integrity Commission address waste surveys used to determine the billing amounts. 

These rules do not apply to designated carters subject to DSNY’s commercial waste zone rules within an implemented zone. DSNY is proposing provisions to ensure that private carters conduct waste surveys to generate an accurate estimate of waste a customer produces when a “flat” billing method is used.

DSNY will hold a public hearing on the proposed rule via Microsoft Teams at 10 a.m. Jan. 6, 2025. Interested parties can use the following link. Comments regarding the proposed rule can also be left on the NYC Rules website, with a deadline of Jan. 6, 2025.