The end of plastic and glass recycling has left the streets of Gravesend strewn with garbage and a magnet for rats, says Assemblyman William Colton.
"Now that people are disposing of their deposit bottles with their regular garbage, scavengers looking to collect the 5 cents are ripping the bags open and leaving a mess on the streets," he said.
Colton (D-Gravesend), chairman of the Legislative Commission on Solid Waste, said he heard complaints about the trash days after the recycling program was suspended. "The program was suspended on July1. We recorded the first complaint on July 10," he said.
City Councilman Michael McMahon, (D-S.I.), who led the effort to preserve the plastic- and glass-recycling program said he's not surprised.
"It's unfortunate but I'm being proven right in that I predicted this would happen," McMahon said. "One of the forces that led to recycling in the first place was people were rummaging through the trash after the deposit law was passed.
"I'm afraid the problem is only going to get worse," he said.
Colton said in his neighborhood the problem is bad enough right now.
"We have already seen the development of a rodent problem and residents in the community are up in arms," Colton said. "I understand there is some construction work going on [in] the nearby subway which could bring out the rodents. But those ripped-open garbage bags are an invitation to rats."
Inspected & baited
A spokesman for the city's Health Department said several Gravesend areas have been inspected for rats, and poison bait has been distributed.
"We also encourage everyone to use containers with rodent-proof lids," said agency spokesman Greg Butler.
Sanitation spokesman Vito Turso said the department anticipated problems when it suspended the recycling program. "We recognized there would be some problems in pulling glass from the recycling program," Turso said.
"But just because people can no longer mix glass and plastic with their cans and metals doesn't mean you can put those items out separately," Turso said. "I'm not advocating as a policy, but just because the bottles are put out separately doesn't mean they won't be picked up as garbage."