MURRAY HILL, NY (TIP):  Council Member Sandra Ung on Tuesday, October 18,  joined Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch to announce $134,000 in funding allocated by the Council Member for mobile litter patrols (MLP) that will target sidewalk litter and problem dumping sites across District 20. “Garbage is not only an eyesore, it is a public safety and public health issue,” said Council Member Sandra Ung. “While a lot of our efforts aimed at cleaner streets have focused on the busy commercial and commuter hub in downtown Flushing, we know there are sanitation issues in other part of the district. These new mobile litter patrols will target those sites, especially areas that repeatedly attract illegal dumping. I want to thank Commissioner Tisch and the rest of the Sanitation Department for their willingness to work with my office to address difficult issues such as this.”

“I want to thank Councilmember Ung for her commitment to cleanliness, and for hosting this bin distribution. Whether Queens residents use our bin or their own, they’ll be getting rat food out of the trash bags and helping to keep our streets clean,” said Jessica Tisch, Commissioner, NYC Sanitation. MLP crews will be in the district three times a week removing illegal drop offs, as well as cleaning sidewalks, tree pits and rain gardens. Crews will also remove snow and ice on the LIRR overpasses from Union Street to 149th Street, a decades-long issue that the Council Member called attention to on the campaign trail. During the cold months when the snow and ice hardens, the overpasses become nearly impossible to traverse, especially for people with mobility issues and parents with strollers. In addition to the funding for mobile litter patrols, the Council Member provided $160,000 to the Flushing Business Improvement District for sanitation services. She also joined her City Council colleagues in pushing for $22 million in the most recent budget to expand litter basket pickups to pre-pandemic levels citywide. The Council Member urges constituents to report illegal dumping either to her office at (718) 888-8747 or to 311.

Following the announcement, DSNY representatives distributed 100 free compost bins to promote the return of Curbside Composting throughout Queens. The service was restored on October 3, and residential buildings of all sizes – from single-family homes to apartment buildings – now receive weekly curbside organics collection.

Residents can use any bin that is 55 gallons or less, but it should have a DSNY composting bin decal, which you can request at nyc.gov/CompostingBinDecal. Compostable items include leaf and yard waste, food scraps such as meat, bones, dairy and prepared foods, and greasy paper plates and pizza boxes as long as they are uncoated. Composting is picked up the same day as recycling.

“One-third of the waste New Yorkers sends to landfills is food scraps and yard waste,” said Council Member Ung. “Instead of throwing it in the trash, let’s use it to create compost for our parks and open spaces, or even as a renewable source of energy.”