Local Law 199 of 2019 requires the City to transition from a notoriously inefficient and dangerous private sanitation system to a zoned system in which a maximum of three designated waste haulers operate in each zone. However, as delays to the full implementation of the law continue, the NYC private sanitation industry is reporting serious crashes at rates comparable to the years preceding passage of the law. Between 2022 and 2024,1 17 private garbage companies expected to participate in New York’s nascent Commercial Waste Zones (CWZ) system were involved in at least 61 serious crashes, resulting in 103 injuries and three fatalities.
The recent death of DSNY employee Richard Errico is a tragic reminder of how dangerous the sanitation sector is for both public and private sector workers. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics continues to report that waste collection is one of the deadliest occupations in the country with a fatality rate three times higher than that of police officers or firefighters. Despite years of public scrutiny, the private sanitation industry has not improved on its own. 2024 has seen gruesome and fatal crashes involving licensed waste haulers that have been awarded zones under the City’s new system, including a Queens-based truck killing a pedestrian while illegally reversing down a one-way street in Manhattan, and a fatal truck crash with a motor vehicle in Brooklyn following an illegal U-turn.
A full citywide implementation of the Commercial Waste Zones System mandated by Local Law 199 of 2019 and rigorous enforcement of safety and environmental rules is critical to address the root causes of safety hazards in the private waste industry, which include excessively long, inefficient, and overlapping routes, poorly maintained trucks, and fatigued drivers working grueling night time shifts. The law will reduce
these overlapping routes and eliminate unnecessary truck miles by assigning haulers to specific zones. It will also require employers to provide comprehensive safety training to workers