What New York's commercial waste zone rollout requires of small businesses
New York City is replacing its open market for trash collection with 20 zones. Here is what has changed so far and what businesses still need to do.
For decades, any New York business could hire almost any private carting company to haul its trash, letting dozens of carters crisscross the city competing for the same customers. Local Law 199 of 2019 replaced that model with 20 Commercial Waste Zones, each served by three authorized carters instead of dozens of competitors.
The rollout has moved zone by zone since late 2024, and by September 2026 about 40% of the zones were live. For business owners, the practical questions are simpler than the policy behind them: which carter can serve your address, what it can charge, and what happens if you miss the deadline to sign.
How the zone system works
The Department of Sanitation divided the five boroughs into 20 zones and awarded contracts to three carters per zone for curbside pickup, plus five carters citywide for containerized service from dumpsters and compactors. Businesses choose among the authorized carters serving their zone rather than any BIC-licensed hauler citywide.
The Department of Sanitation's own framing is that the program is meant to establish new safety standards for carting workers, improve service for businesses and reduce emissions from waste vehicles. The Business Integrity Commission, which licenses carters, and DSNY jointly oversee compliance.
Where the rollout stands
Queens Central was the first zone, fully implemented January 2, 2025; both Bronx zones launched that October and were fully implemented by the end of November 2025. Queens Northeast and Brooklyn South launched at the start of 2026, Lower Manhattan followed April 1, and Staten Island and Midtown South went live over the summer, becoming operational in July and August 2026. That put roughly eight of the 20 zones in effect by September 2026.
Brooklyn North and Upper Manhattan have a customer sign-up period beginning October 1, 2026. DSNY remains committed to citywide implementation by the end of 2027. Some zones have been pushed later than originally planned: Queens West was reassigned to a different carter, Tully Environmental, after Waste Connections' acquisition of Royal Waste Services left a contract vacancy, and Manhattan Southwest and Midtown North were delayed after Action Environmental acquired Filco Carting, according to Waste Dive. A DSNY spokesperson said the adjustments reflect operational readiness and market conditions.
What a business has to do, and what happens if it doesn't
Businesses do not need to act until their zone's sign-up period opens, which DSNY has generally set at about two months before a zone's implementation date. During that window, a business must sign a written service agreement with one of its zone's authorized carters. Businesses can also self-haul their own waste if they register to do so.
Businesses that miss the deadline do not go uncollected. DSNY assigns them a carter from among those authorized in the zone, at that carter's highest allowable rate, according to the waste-management advisory firm Great Forest, which advises businesses on the process. Businesses can renegotiate price and service level after being assigned, or sign with a different carter in the zone. DSNY publishes a rate calculator so businesses can check the maximum a zone's carters may charge before they sign.
What it costs
Rate caps vary by zone and service type and are adjusted periodically. Under an August 2024 update to the citywide rate cap cited by the waste consultancy Global Trash Solutions, carters could charge up to $26.87 per cubic yard of refuse, or $17.64 per 100 pounds. The law also requires that carters charge less for recycling and compostable material than for refuse collection, an incentive meant to push businesses toward diversion.
Two other cost pressures compound the base rate. A separate 2024 rule requires all businesses to containerize their waste rather than leave it in bags on the curb, and carters may charge extra to supply and maintain bins. Businesses that co-mingle recyclables with trash or fail to label bins as required can face separate Sanitation Department fines that industry guidance from the carter Action Environmental puts at $50 to $400 per violation, on top of whatever the zone carter charges for service.
“Businesses that miss the deadline do not go uncollected. DSNY assigns them a carter from among those authorized in the zone, at that carter's highest allowable rate.”
Enforcement and disputes so far
DSNY reported issuing roughly 150 notices of violation to commercial waste haulers in Queens Central during that zone's first three months, and Waste Dive reported that carter violations there fell by about half in the following months. The Business Integrity Commission has also fined carters directly: Cogent Waste Solutions reached a $1.3 million settlement described as the largest in BIC history, payable in installments through April 2026, and Action Environmental reached an $825,000 settlement in September 2025 over contract violations, according to Waste Dive's reporting.
The rollout has also drawn a legal challenge. A new requirement that carters survey each customer's waste stream before finalizing rates prompted the National Waste & Recycling Association to sue in August 2025; a hearing was scheduled for December 19, 2025. Waste Connections estimated the survey requirement could cost about $2,575 per customer; the National Waste & Recycling Association's lawsuit extrapolated that figure to over $33 million for a single zone. Acting DSNY Commissioner Javier Lojan said the requirement was about accuracy and transparency. As of April 2026, the suit remained pending, and Waste Dive reported that Cogent Waste Solutions had moved to exit the case; the sources reviewed for this article do not indicate a final resolution.
The New York City Comptroller's office found that within individual zones, the highest bids submitted by carters ranged from 43 percent to 145 percent above the lowest bids, according to Waste Dive, raising questions among reviewers about how carters priced their proposals.
What's next
Mamdani has appointed Asim Rehman to lead the Business Integrity Commission, and new DSNY Commissioner Greg Anderson has reiterated the existing target of citywide implementation by the end of 2027. The mayor's transition committees have included members of the Transform Don't Trash Coalition, which has pushed for a faster schedule, according to Waste Dive. No major change to the program's structure has been announced.
For business owners in zones not yet live, the near-term task is tracking when their zone's sign-up period opens. DSNY's online zone map identifies which of the 20 zones covers a given address and which carters are authorized to serve it.
