The city is “strongly” considering pushing back the time that trash bags are allowed to be put out on sidewalks, according to Department of Sanitation officials.

Currently, city regulations permit buildings and businesses to place their trash and recycling on curbs at 4 p.m. for overnight and next-day pickup — the earliest set-out time of any major American city, according to the DSNY.

However, the department said it is now considering moving that set out time to 8 p.m. as a way of trying to combat issues of rodents and dirty streets.

“New Yorkers put millions of pounds of trash and recycling on the street starting at 4 p.m. - right as the evening rush is getting underway - and then it stays out, serving as a nightclub for rats and other pests, until it’s collected. Well soon, we’re going to try to shut the club down,” DSNY spokesperson Joshua Goodman said in a statement.

Goodman noted that, besides a later set out time, the department will also strive for earlier pickup times, to reduce the amount of time that trash is sitting on city sidewalks altogether.

“We are doing more of our collection on the midnight shift, getting bags cleared before most people wake up. You set it out later. We’ll pick up more of it earlier,” he said.

“Clean streets are essential to the City’s recovery, and between these changes and our five-borough containerization pilot, we’re lathering up to shave New York’s 5:00 shadow of trash bags.”

The sanitation department said it is striving to limit the hours bags are left out and is currently picking up about 5 million pounds of trash and recycling between the hours of midnight and 8 a.m. — which is “several times higher than pre-pandemic.”

The proposed set-out time has not been finalized, and it remains unclear when, or if, the change will be adopted.

The sanitation department did note that under the proposal, it would be possible to place trash on curbs earlier than 8 p.m., so long as bags are contained in a bin.

Residential trash would also be permitted to go out in a bin, with a secure lid, beginning at 6 p.m. Commercial trash would be permitted in bin with a secure lid starting an hour before a business closes. But a regular black garbage bag would have to wait until 8 at night, and that concerns some businesses.

“We close at 6 p.m.," Bruce Eder, manager of Westsider Records on the Upper West Side, said. "It is ridiculous we are going to have to have someone come back in at 8 p.m. to put the trash out and we have no food garbage. ‘You want to set up bins along 72nd Street?’ I’m wondering how some people are going to stand for that.”

Kyle Bragg, president of 32BJ SEIU, New York City’s building workers’ union, also issued a statement urging the city to consider those who would be directly impacted by the policy change.

“We will continue to assist in developing trash bag pick-up schedules that benefit every New Yorker by centering the perspectives of the key stakeholders involved. That starts by acknowledging that the current proposal significantly impacts building service workers across the city,” he said. “Doorpersons and porters, essential workers through the pandemic, have played a vital role in New York’s recovery. Major policy changes like this need to include them in the decision making.”

As with any city policy change, this would not happen overnight. If the Department of Sanitation were to move forward with this, there would be several formal steps necessary, including a public comment period, which would take a few months.