The head of the city’s Department of Sanitation on Friday applauded strides made in pushing rats from city streets.

Commissioner Jessica Tisch, during an appearance on "Mornings On 1," said that rat sightings reported to 311 were down year over year in 11 of the past 12 months, and attributed the decline to new trash containerization rules.

“I think it's one big measure that has really contributed to the decrease in rats; and that is Mayor [Eric] Adams' war on the black bags. Every day, New Yorkers put 44 million pounds of trash out. And over the last year, we've put in requirements that all businesses put their trash in containers. That's 20 million pounds a day. And next we're going after residential trash bags,” Tisch said.

The department reported an overall decrease of 6.4% in rat sightings over the past year, with a 14.3% decline in the city’s so-called “rat mitigation zones."

When questioned about other metrics for measuring the rat population, Tisch said they are instead prioritizing the elimination of food sources for rats.

"I am more focused on getting rid of the food source for the rats because I believe that if we deny them the food, whatever that population number is, it will go down significantly," she said.

While acknowledging widespread compliance with the new containerization rules, Tisch did say that progress can continue to be made.

“I will say one thing that makes me a little crazy is businesses are tending not to buy enough bins so often you'll see a bin and then trash bags next to it that wouldn't fit in,” she said. “So I just encourage businesses to buy an extra bin.”