Curbing Our Cities’ Rat Problems with Better Trash Practices

With mismanaged food waste being a key contributor to growing rat populations, many cities are stepping up their efforts to tackle the problem. 

“New Yorkers may not know this about me — but I hate rats, and I’m confident most of our city’s residents do as well.”

– New York City Mayor Eric Adams

Back in May, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the first National Urban Rat Summit which will take place in September. The city’s Rat Mitigation Zones have seen a dip in sightings of almost 14% year over year but it’s not enough. The summit will see experts and leaders come together to discuss and better understand urban rats, ultimately leading to cleaner, safer streets. Still, the appointment last year of NYC Rat Czar Kathleen Corradi shows that we have a long way to go to fully understand how to deal with the furry menace.

The Adams Administration has already made big moves by ordering that all businesses must put their commercial trash into secure, lidded containers. For context, that’s 20 million pounds of trash per day off the sidewalk – just under half of the city’s daily total. The next phase comes into effect in the fall of this year, when buildings with nine or fewer residential units will also be required to containerize their trash. These two phases of the plan will result in 70% of NYC’s trash being off the streets and, in turn, away from the rats.

Over in Boston, a rat problem of their own has sparked a plan to bring the population down before it becomes more widespread. A key phase of this plan is also getting curbside trash into containers, dealing a major blow to the rats’ food supply. Citizens tend to turn to poison as a quick solution but the effects of this on wider urban wildlife can be severe. If Boston – or any city for that matter – wants to rid itself of rats, the solution is better trash practices.

To aid in moving trash off the streets, metroSTOR offers a number of solutions in the form of dumpster enclosures. Manufactured to house all kinds of standard sized dumpsters and carts, they provide protection not only from the elements but vermin as well, driving them away from the food source. The standard size options make them easy to implement for local sanitization departments and the units can be serviced right there in the street.

As Boston looks to step up their rat mitigation plans, other cities will be looking to the likes of them and NYC in the coming months to do the same. With a growing human population and more trash being produced, widespread containerization is the key to changing the habits of citizens.