NYC taking simple steps to wage 'War on Rats'

NYC aims to control rats by controlling garbage

New York City is taking new steps to fight its rat problem, by covering up trash bins as a "simple thing" every New Yorker can do to send the rats out of town.

BROOKLYN - New York City Mayor Eric Adams has declared war on rats, even announcing the city would name a "Rat Czar" to fight the city's ongoing issue with rodents. But while we wait for the job to be filled, some are saying they have an easy fix for reducing the city's rat population.

Covering up trash bins is what the city calls a "simple thing" every New Yorker can do to send the rats out of town.

This week, Mayor Adams toured rat burrows with the Health Department’s Pest Control director to figure out the best way to mitigate the problem.

Controlling the food source starts with covering up the garbage.

"Every third bag, if you kicked it, would suddenly erupt in all sorts of motion because there were five or six rats, or maybe eight or ten rats in there having a feast. That hasn't happened so much," said Jesse Hendrich, a member of SCRAM, the Sterling Committee on Rat Awareness and Mitigation.

Beginning April 1, the New York City Department of Sanitation says the time to put out bins is being pushed back to 6 p.m., and for trash bags, the time is even later: 8 p.m.

"If you're going to change the way we put out garbage, tell us to put it in bins. Please be clear, because these are the policies that are actually going to change and solve the issue," Hendrich said.