Commercial carting companies that have lost private business customers in the coronavirus crisis say they鈥檙e offering to help the city Department of Sanitation pick up residential refuse. The offer to add private carting companies to the city鈥檚 sanitation routes is 鈥渙n the table,” owners of private carting companies say.
鈥淚f things get bad enough, we don鈥檛 want garbage piling up in the streets,鈥� said Tom Toscano, the owner of Mr. T Carting in Glendale, Queens.
The Department of Sanitation, however, said it does not intend to use private carters to supplement its workforce. 鈥淭his is absolutely not under consideration,鈥� a DSNY spokeswoman said. 鈥淣ew Yorkers depend on us, and we will continue to provide our most essential services.鈥�
Toscano and other carting company owners say they鈥檙e willing to help even though the city has threatened their businesses by revamping the current commercial waste removal landscape to a zone model where only one or two carting companies can work in a specific area.