Dozens Of Rat-Fighting Trash Cans Arrive On East Side, Menin Says

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Life just got tougher for rodents scurrying around Manhattan's East Side, who will have to scrounge harder for their scraps thanks to the arrival of 44 new rat-fighting trash cans.

The receptacles were installed Friday on 17 different corners in Sutton Place and Midtown East: the southern portion of the City Council district represented by Julie Menin, who acquired the bins.

Old-fashioned, open-topped trash cans have been replaced with the new gray baskets, which are housed within a metal case and have only a small opening at the top to minimize spillage and deter rodents.

They couldn't come at a better time: rat complaints on the Upper East Side have continued their pandemic-era surge this year, with 2022 still on pace to eclipse last year's record number of reported sightings.

"I am proud to prioritize and expand on sanitation initiatives throughout our residential neighborhoods and busy commercial corridors," Menin said in a statement.

Here's the full list of intersections getting the new trash cans:

• Sutton Place and 59th Street (SW and SE corner)
• Sutton Place and 58th Street (all 4 corners)
• Sutton Place and 57th Street (all 4 corners)
• Sutton Place and 56th Street (all 4 corners)
• Sutton Place and 55th Street (NW and NE corners)
• First Ave. and 59th Street (SW and SE corners)
• First Ave. and 58th Street (all 4 corners)
• First Ave. and 57th Street (all 4 corners)
• First Ave. and 56th Street (all 4 corners)
• First Ave. and 55th Street (NW, NE, and SW corners)
• First Ave. and 54th Street (NW corner)
• Second Ave. and 59th Street (SE corner)
• Second Ave. and 58th Street (NE and SE corners)
• Second Ave. and 57th Street (NE and SE corners)
• Second Ave. and 56th Street (NE and SE corners)
• Second Ave. and 55th Street (NE and SE corners)
• Second Ave. and 54th Street (NE corners)

Much of the Upper East Side and Yorkville have already benefitted from those bins for years — Ben Kallos, who preceded Menin in District 5, helped secure hundreds of them during his eight years in office.

The new cans come weeks after Menin announced $235,000 in new funding to increase daily garbage pickups throughout District 5, add street-cleaning services to four busy commercial corridors, and install rat-baits at tree pits around the neighborhood.

Sutton Area Community, a group representing the Sutton Place neighborhood, has recommitted to funding extra cleanup services to supplement the city's efforts, according to Menin's office.