City Gave Garbage Routes To Companies With Bad Safety Records: Audit - Streetsblog New York City

"The Adams administration's much-delayed changes to the way commercial trash is collected aims to rein in the chaotic carting industry by reducing reckless driving and cutting truck mileage. But Lander's office raised serious qualms about how Mayor Adams has overseen the process. "By awarding contracts to bad actors with terrible safety records, the Department of Sanitation is undermining the goals of the program," Lander said in a statement. "The city must ... be willing to hold bad carters to higher standards to ensure this law actually improves the conditions for workers and our environment.""

"New Jersey-based Action Carting had by far the most safety violations yet won the right to operate in the largest number of zones. Meanwhile, several smaller companies with zero safety infractions but did not get permits to operate in any zones, according to enforcement records auditors from the city's fiscal watchdog reviewed, according to the report."

"'This report shows how far we still have to go to hold these companies accountable, and how urgently we must fully implement commercial waste zones for the safety of New Yorkers,' said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who drafted the law mandating the overhauls as a Council member. The program legislated by the Council in late 2019 divided the city into 20 zones to better regulate an industry where as many as 50 different companies served one neighborhood, and truck operators drove around recklessly under pressures to collect from large areas."

The city allocated the largest number of commercial waste collection zones to private haulers with the worst safety records. City Comptroller Brad Lander flagged that awarding contracts to companies with significant violations undermines goals to reduce reckless driving and cut truck mileage. New Jersey-based Action Carting recorded the most safety violations yet secured rights to operate in the most zones. Several smaller companies with zero safety infractions did not receive permits. The program split the city into 20 zones in 2019 and DSNY selected 18 companies in early 2024 to be phased in across neighborhoods.

Read at Streetsblog