Hankerson asks when DSNY halted litter basket removals
Council Member Hankerson asks when DSNY stopped removing litter baskets due to illegal dumping. Anderson says he ended the practice when he became commissioner in March 2026 and that DSNY now relocates rather than removes baskets.
Councilmember Hankerson, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Chair.
I'm going to move relatively quickly through my questions.
When did the department halt the practice of removing trash bins on the basis of illegal dumping?
So I became commissioner on March 30th, 2026.
And one of the first things I said to my team was absolutely not.
We are not doing that anymore.
Great.
Does the agency still remove baskets, but for other reasons aside from illegal dumping?
In general, no.
What we will sometimes do is, and a lot of this happens in close collaboration with city council members, we'll move baskets from, you know, if there's four corners at an intersection, we'll move it from one corner.
corner to another based on a concern from a resident or a business owner or the location of a bus stop, maybe that gets moved, something like that.
So we certainly do relocate them, but we don't generally remove them.
How often do you collaborate with council members to make that decision?
All the time, on a daily basis.
No one's called me.
I think you know how to get in touch with us.
So if you want us to come out and talk about your litter baskets, we're happy to do so anytime.
I'd love for you all to get in touch with me as well.