A Local Law in relation to a pilot program for the use of sensor-enhanced public litter baskets

Int. No. 318

By Council Members Rodriguez, Brannan and Koslowitz

A Local Law in relation to a pilot program for the use of sensor-enhanced public litter baskets

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:                     

Section 1. a. Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

Commissioner. The term “commissioner” means the commissioner of sanitation.

Department. The term “department” means the department of sanitation.

Sensor-enhanced litter basket. The term “sensor-enhanced litter basket” means a public litter basket capable of autonomously determining the amount of refuse it currently contains or its current proximity to full capacity and reporting that information in real-time to the department.

b. Not later than January 1, 2020, the commissioner shall establish a one-year pilot program for the use of sensor-enhanced litter baskets on city streets which shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

i. The replacement of all public litter baskets with sensor-enhanced litter baskets in at least two separate contiguous geographic areas, representing no less than one sanitation district each and each containing at least one heavily trafficked commercial area and one residential area;

ii. For the first three months of such pilot program, not to include the months of December, January or February, the sensor-enhanced litter baskets shall be collected, but no changes in collection routes or department operations shall be made, to establish a baseline; and

iii. After the third month of the pilot program, the sensor-enhanced litter basket capacity data shall be used to more efficiently plan department operations and truck routes to minimize the amount of time any particular basket is at full capacity and maximize the productivity of individual truck routes.

c. Within six months of the conclusion of the sensor-enhanced litter basket pilot program required by subdivision b of this local law, the commissioner shall submit a report to the mayor and the speaker of the council assessing the efficacy of such pilot program including, but not limited to, the following: a statistical comparison of the data from the baseline period to the subsequent experimental phase, a description of all modifications to department operations and truck routes that were attempted during the program and the result of each, an estimate of any potential cost savings and reduction in overall fleet vehicle emissions from a permanent adoption of the technology, and recommendations on whether and how the technology could best be utilized in a permanent program.

§2. This local law takes effect immediately.

BJR

LS 806

LS 1437 / Int. 669-2015

12/27/17  5:58PM