NYC trash complaints have soared — Brooklyn neighborhood is the worst offender
The Big Apple's getting pretty trashy.
The city's 311 system saw a whopping 41,023 gripes about garbage on sidewalks citywide from Sept. 21, 2023 to Sept. 20 — an almost 250% surge from 11,813 during the same period four years ago and 30% more than the 31,890 last year, a Post examination of city data found.
Kings County tops the garbage heap with the most complaints about sidewalk refuse.
Residents of the 11226 ZIP code, which covers Flatbush, logged more 311 hotline complaints than anywhere else in the Smelly Apple, data obtained by The Post show.
The neighborhood racked up a nose-pinching 986 complaints, while the entire borough saw 15,128 grievances, up 66% from 11,413 in the last year.
"Just looking down any street, or any corner, there's going to be piles of trash, and they're going to stay there for days, because it seems like trashmen aren't picking it up for whatever reason," said Flatbush native Maika Eugene.
"It's almost like complaints are taken with a blind eye," Eugene, 24, continued. "Compared to other neighborhoods in Brooklyn, there's way more trash here."
Joan Mercurius, who has lived within the ZIP code for 25 years, blamed the waste-filled sidewalks for bringing vermin into her apartment.
"The trash is terrible and then the rats come. I get them in my apartment and they're all over the streets –it's because of this trash all over the place," Mercurius, 79, told The Post while motioning to a pile of litter on Nostrand Avenue.
"People randomly throw their garbage and sometimes the garbage man don't take it, so sometimes it stays there for weeks or months," raged David Gallimore.
"It's demeaning," Gallimore, 60, said. "There's no way that we should be living like this, man."
The section of Cortelyou Road inside the 11226 ZIP — which stretches from Dahill Road to Schenectady Avenue — saw the highest number of 311 complaints about trash on the sidewalk out of all streets citywide, with 221.
Councilmember Rita Joseph, whose Brooklyn district covers part of the 11226 zip code, said trash is "one of our top complaints we receive from constituents.
"It is important that city agencies such as [the Sanitation Department] develop a comprehensive plan in how to address areas of high needs when it comes to sanitation concerns," she said.
Manhattan had the second-most complaints with 9,683, followed by Queens with 8,248, the Bronx with 6,562 and Staten Island with 1,396.
The 10011 ZIP code in Manhattan – home to Chelsea and Greenwich Village – was the second filthiest ZIP code citywide, with 882 gripes, followed by the 10468 in The Bronx, which covers Kingsbridge, Marble Hill and Fordham Manor, with 787 complaints.
"We've made a big push to get our constituents to contact 311, and it's good that they're doing that, but our city has a lot of progress to make on sanitation," said Councilmember Erik Bottcher, who represents part of the 10011 ZIP.
Bottcher also said his office is in touch with the Sanitation Department about illegal dumping and missing garbage bins from street corners.
In the past 12 months, Sanitation doled out 992,192 cleanliness violations – an 8% increase from a year ago, and 335% more than in the same period in 2020-2021.
A spike in complaints does not necessarily correlate to an increase in trash citywide, according to Sanitation spokesman Vincent Gragnani, who also said the DSNY supported the May passage of a bill that escalated fines for commercial cleanliness violations.
"We encourage all New Yorkers to call 311 and report dirty conditions," Gragnani said.
