Month: June 2025

They call it “The garbage revolution”although it really has little revolutionary. At least for any European accustomed to doing something as simple as throwing their waste into the garbage can. On Monday the New York authorities They took chest announcing its new and brand new strategy to manage the waste of the Big Apple, a pilot program that is now bounded to a neighborhood and,, according to their driversit will be a pioneer throughout the United States. So far not surprising beyond political rhetoric. The funny thing is what New York wants to boost that peculiar “revolution” of cleaning: with garbage cubes and trucks such as those seen in the streets of Spain for decades. Garbage. In New York, workers of the garbage collection service are forced to do something less and less frequent in Spain and most European cities: withdraw on the sidewalks plastic bags full of waste and throw them to the rear of a truck. For them it is a Latoso work. For the city, a problem: the bags are piled up in the streets, hinder the passage, generate bad odors, overthrow liquid and attract rats. In fact, the New York town hall has already had to see them with Rodents. That is why in countries like Spain a different strategy has been chosen for a long time. Collectors are installed in the streets so that citizens can throw their garbage bags inside, leaving them safe from rats and seagulls. Over the years the system has been purified with wild boar cubes, collectors endowed with Electronic locks that are unlocked with special cards and systems that facilitate the discharge of garbage inside the trucks. Revolution in New York. After half a century Of “accumulation of garbage in streets”, in New York they have decided to say enough and change their garbage collection model for a new one, very similar to that of Europe. The first step was taken in 2023, when the authorities demanded from the businesses of the food branch (from bars to supermarkets) that they deposit their waste in containers. A year ago that obligation extended to all companies and in recent months the same standard has been making its way between small residential buildings. The great change has now arrived with a pilot test in the streets of the Community Board 9 of Manhattan, where the use of containers will apply to all types of residential buildings, from small blocks of less than ten homes to the largest, with more than 30. The City Council claims that the neighborhood has thus become “the first neighborhood of North America to have 100% of its garbage in containers” and even speaks of a “garbage revolution.” An old flavor revolution. The most curious thing is that this revolution really has little revolutionary. At least from the perspective of Europeans, who have been (if not decades) accustomed to the tools with which New York now wants to improve the management of their garbage. The reason is simple: the change in the Harlem will basically be supported on three pieces, all integrated for a long time in the urban landscape of the Spanish cities: Empire garbage cubes with capacity for 3,000 L, collectors with wheels and side load trucks. Closed and card cubes. Over the last weeks the New York Health Department has dedicated itself to installing in West Harlem around 1,100 Empire containerswhich are the ones that present a small novelty. Unlike most garbage cubes that can be seen in Europe, these collectors will not be available to any neighbor who passes through the sidewalk. They will remain closed and their use will be assigned exclusively to a building, which can access the collector thanks to a special card. In fact, residents will not even pull the bags in the cube. The idea It is that they leave them in an area of ​​collection in the building itself and the cubes themselves handle them the staff of the buildings or the waste managers. It is not the model that is usually used in Spain, although here They also look card collectors. Measuring buildings. The largest blocks of West Harlem, those with more than 30 homes, have been assigned Great Empire Garbage Cubes. Those between 30 and 10 apartments are allowed to choose between that smaller model or containers with wheels and the buildings with less than a dozen families are asked to use 200 l cubes. To expedite the work of the operators, a year ago the City Council also presented a prototype of garbage collection truck with lateral load that can be handled by only two operators. In November the Consistory has already asked these smaller buildings for residential use to start using containers, which has a first idea of ​​what is their result. Your conclusions? “The first data show that the use of containers is working: since the demands entered into force, six months ago, the number of rats has decreased,” celebrate. A revolution with challenges. New York is discovering more than the use of containers. He has also encountered the challenges they represent. The New York Times public A chronicle This same Monday explaining how cleaning service employees have to deal with double -row cars that block the cubes and prevent trucks from accessing them. It also warns of the impact they will have on the parking spaces. The municipal authorities already calculate that expanding the program to the entire city would demand to eliminate 50,000 spaces to park vehicles. That without having the hundreds of millions of dollars that would require buying garbage cubes and collection trucks capable of attending the entire population of the Big Apple. Critics write down a “but” more: That the initiative to recycling does not expand. Image | City of New York In Xataka | The cities emptied during the pandemic. The rats took advantage of him to impose his reign