New York City’s sanitation department is putting the lid on residents using their own curbside garbage containers, as part of Mayor Eric Adams’ war on trash and rats — awarding a vendor an exclusive 10-year contract to sell nearly 3.4 million bins to homeowners and landlords. 

On Monday a city board reviewed a pending Department of Sanitation agreement with Duramax Holdings LLC, a North Carolina-based company doing business as Otto Environmental Systems, that will sell the bins for residences with nine or fewer units.

Duramax agreed to a decade-long term to be the sole vendor of the two-wheeled, hinge-lidded bins to New Yorkers, with the option to renew for two additional five-year terms, according to the contract.

They’re aiming to sell 3,390,000 bins — with nearly a million delivered by Nov. 1, 2024, the draft agreement shows. People living in the affected buildings will be required to use the company’s bins and only the company’s bins starting in 2026, the sanitation department says.

“We are humbled and honored to be able to serve the city with these bins,” Travis McDowell, vice president of sales for Otto, told THE CITY.

Joshua Goodman, a deputy commissioner for the sanitation department, said owners of residential buildings will be able to buy the bins at a discounted price of $50, well below an estimated $150 retail cost. 

“This extremely low price-point was achieved in part through the innovative use of a concession agreement, whereby DSNY was able to keep the cost low by guaranteeing volume,” he told THE CITY in a statement. 

Standardizing the bins also makes it easier for mechanized collection, he added — noting that half of the department staff’s line-of-duty injuries are sprains and strains from lifting heavy trash. 

“We are going to retrofit many of our trucks with mechanical tippers, and that requires a standard bin,” he said. “This will make collection cleaner, quicker, and also safer for sanitation workers.”

The containers — lauded by Mayor Eric Adams and Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch — will vary in cost depending on what they’ll hold. Refuse, mixed glass and plastic, or mixed paper containers will sell for $45.88 for a 30-35 gallon bin, or $53.02 for a 45-50-gallon bin. Under the pending deal, the company will sell the containers online and is encouraged to sell through local brick-and-mortar retailers.

Containers for organic waste, which includes compostable food scraps, will cost $43.47 for a bin that holds 20 to 25 gallons.

Adams and Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch have zeroed in on reshaping the city’s trash management system, with efforts underway to require owners of commercial and residential buildings to place their trash in containers — long a practice in other cities — instead of piled up in plastic bags on sidewalks.

The mayor, who often discusses how much he hates rats and even hired a “rat czar” to go after the rodents, has described the bin system as a rat-fighting tool. 

As part of his proposed upheaval, the Department of Sanitation expects to mandate buildings with 31 or more units to use, larger, stationary containers stored on the street, in a system to first be tested in a section of upper Manhattan.

The city is currently soliciting a vendor for those bins.  

The Department of Sanitation has already made certain other changes to residential trash pickup rules, rolling back the time building superintendents can place trash outside from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m if the trash is in bags, with the time moving up to 6 p.m. if it’s in a bin.