Sanitation Ticket

kevin_on_putnam · March 2007

For months we've been putting our newspapers in Fresh Direct boxes and overlapping the top flaps so that there is no possibility of leakage, then putting them out for recycling. Today we were issued a $25 summons because the boxes were "unflattened and untied." They've been picking them up like this for months, but suddenly Supr. D. Nastro has decided that they are "likely to scatter about sidewalk."

Geez. The thin plastic bags we could have put them in are much more easily broken than the Fresh Direct cardboard boxes. Maybe this guy doesn't like Fresh Direct. :x

Well, all others take warning.. Nastro is on patrol.

boygabriel · March 2007

sometimes the uber-strict Sanitation rules drive me insane.

Three weeks ago I had two pieces of thin wood, maybe 2' x 8" each, that I needed to put out (left over from renovations upstairs). Each one couldn't have weighed more than a pound. As they were awkwardly sized to tie together (as required), I just put both of them out on the curb and figured the two-handed sanitation guy could easily pick up these two, small, light pieces of wood.

Nope.

They weren't bundled so they weren't taken. So instead, for the following two weeks, I put one out at a time and of course sanitation took them. I understand their requirement that wood and the like be bundled, but c'mon, be reasonable. Two small, thin, light pieces of wood? Does it make any difference whatsoever if they're tied together or not? Just pick them up, both in one hand if you prefer! And take them from the curb to the trash truck in one quick trip!

/rant

anonymous · March 2007

When the sanitation dept. comes to pick up they do what they want but when the sanitation police surveys your block they can and will get you on anything that they can. I just do exactly what they they require because sooner or later one childish officer is going to ticket you just because they can.
Recyclables in your household trash put in by pedestrians or papers thrown on your sidewalk by bypassers are all your responsibility according to them.
You can't win. Good luck

jimmylegs · March 2007

it's total selective enforcement. i live in south bushwick, where i thought the last thing anybody would worry about is the state of trash on the street. i got fined for a similar thing, carboard boxes of debris that weren't hermetically sealed before putting them on the curb. meanwhile, i had 2 contractor's bags of drywall rubble sit out for over a week before the trash guys felt obligated to pick it up (they had already taken 8 other bags of the stuff, guess they were hoping the bags would get lighter over time).

of course there have been countless other times when the grabage guys have taken dubious stuff without complaint.

Sanitation Ticket

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