The warning period for New Yorkers to comply with the city’s latest residential trash rules is officially over.
In November, small residential buildings and single-family homes were locked into new requirements to put trash on the curb in bins instead of plastic bags.
The rule applies to around 765,000 buildings, or about 95% of residential properties, across the five boroughs.
Those buildings had received warnings through Jan. 2 if they were caught out of compliance, but fines will now commence.
Those fines include a $50 fee for the first offense, $100 for the second offense, and $200 for each offense after that.
Acting Sanitation Commissioner Javier Lojan, during an interview on “Mornings on 1” Tuesday, said the department had issued thousands of warnings.
Lojan said Queens and Brooklyn made up the majority of the 70,000 warnings issued across the city.
“A lot of people in the lower-density areas are used to using some of the bins already, so it wasn't a big shift for them. It was some of the mid-density areas where we saw some of the issues, where we had to issue some of the warnings,” he said.
Lojan, a Queens native who started as a sanitation worker in 1999, also discussed his role leading DSNY.
“You know, civil service was something I always wanted to do. You know, I got called for the sanitation department, and then I just moved up through the ranks 26 years now, so it's been pretty good,” he said.