The city will push its trash set-out schedule back by several hours this coming April in an effort to limit the amount of time garbage sits out on curbs, Mayor Eric Adams said Monday. 

The city’s Department of Sanitation currently allows residential buildings to place trash and recycling out on sidewalks starting at 4 p.m., Adams said at a news conference. 

New rules meant to combat rodents and clean up dirty streets will require residential and commercial buildings to wait until 8 p.m. to place bags of garbage out on curbs, the mayor said. 

Residential buildings will be able to set trash out earlier, at 6 p.m., if it is sealed into a “secure container,” Adams said in a press release. 

Commercial buildings using containers, meanwhile, will be allowed to place their trash out an hour before they close, according to the release. 

The new rules are set to take effect on April 1 of next year, pending a public hearing and a public comment session, the release noted.

“Today, we are announcing a once-in-a-generation change that will have a real impact on the cleanliness of our city,” Adams said Monday. ”We are drastically reducing the amount of time that garbage will remain on our curb.” 

“It made no sense that these garbage bags have remained on the street for such a long period of time,” he added. “They have become open season for rodents going into these bags, creating a real health problem in our city.”

Buildings with nine or more residential units will be able to opt into a 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. set-out window, Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch noted. The opt-in window will open up each January, DSNY’s release said.

“We at the Department of Sanitation are not just asking New Yorkers to change. We are changing too,” Tisch said. “We are doing way more collection on the midnight shift rather than the 6 a.m. shift. Approximately 25% of all of our collection now happens at midnight.” 

The city will hold its public hearing on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 9:30 a.m., Tisch said. New Yorkers will also be able to submit comments online, by email or by mail until Nov. 10, DSNY’s release said.

The city has logged 22,550 rat sighting complaints and 31,338 trash complaints so far this year, 311 data shows. 

The highest number of rat sighting complaints came from the 10025 ZIP code — which includes parts of the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights — with 839 complaints so far this year, according to the data.