The city has rewritten how trash goes to the curb over the last two years. The rules now depend on how many apartments are in the building, and they are the owner’s to meet, whoever actually carries the bags out. Here is where things stand for a small Brooklyn building this fall.<\/p>\n
One to nine apartments.<\/strong> Trash has to go out in a bin, not in bags on the sidewalk. As of June 2026 it has to be the official NYC Bin. The city gave warnings through September 7, and full enforcement began on September 8, 2026. If your building is still using old cans, this is the one to fix first. The Sanitation Department explains the requirement on its containerization page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ten or more apartments.<\/strong> For now the building can use bins of 55 gallons or less with secure lids, or put bags directly on the curb. That is changing. The city is rolling out Empire Bins, which are large fixed containers that sit at the curb and are assigned to a building. Buildings with 31 or more apartments will have to use them, and buildings with 10 to 30 will choose between Empire Bins and official NYC Bins. They are in use in one Manhattan district now, the city says Brooklyn Community District 2 is next this fall, and the plan is to be citywide by 2032.<\/p>\n The times are on the Sanitation Department’s trash page<\/a>:<\/p>\n A bag at the curb at 4:00 in the afternoon is a ticket, and so is a bin with the lid propped open by an extra bag.<\/p>\n Recycling has to be separated from trash. Metal, glass, plastic and cartons go in a labeled bin with a secure lid or in clear bags. Paper and cardboard go in a labeled bin or clear bags, or flattened and tied. A cardboard box is not a bin.<\/p>\n Compost is no longer optional. Since April 1, 2025, food scraps, food-soiled paper and yard waste have to be separated from trash in every residential building in the city, in a labeled bin with a secure lid or the city’s brown bin. The fine for not separating is set by building size, with one schedule for buildings of one to eight apartments and a higher one for nine or more. The Sanitation Department lists all of it, with the current fines, under collection laws for residents<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a big building there is a super and the trash is the super’s job. In a three family it is nobody’s job, and that is the whole problem. What we see most:<\/p>\n Every one of those is fixed the same way. One person is responsible for it, the building has enough of the right bins, and the schedule is posted where the tenants can see it.<\/p>\nSet-out times<\/h3>\n
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Recycling and compost<\/h3>\n
Where small buildings get caught<\/h3>\n
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If you would rather not think about it<\/h3>\n