NYCHA Purchases Electric Tilt Trucks To Improve Trash Pickup, Reduce Fleet Carbon Emissions

Avatar
Published on July 11, 2019, 6:40 pm
FavoriteLoadingAdd to favorites 5 mins

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) announced today it has purchased six electric-powered tilt trucks to expedite garbage pickup at six developments as part of a new pilot program to improve development cleanliness and reduce the Authority’s vehicle-related carbon emissions.

Staff have been trained to wheel six electric trucks to supplement regular trash and recyclables pickup at high-need NYCHA developments located within the City’s Rat Mitigation Zones. These vehicles can carry up to 1,000 pounds of trash each trip and will enable property management staff to dedicate more time to maintenance and janitorial work involving NYCHA grounds and buildings.

“NYCHA is excited to roll out its new electric-powered tilt truck pilot, which will allow our hardworking staff to remove garbage faster and better maintain development grounds for residents,” said NYCHA General Manager Vito Mustaciuolo. “Thanks to support from Mayor de Blasio and HUD, this new initiative will improve the quality of life for NYCHA communities – ensuring cleaner developments while reducing rat populations and limiting our fleet’s carbon emissions.”

As part of the pilot, NYCHA will use the electric vehicles, as laid out in the Authority’s new NYCHA 2.0 Clean Fleet Plan, to improve garbage pickup at the following developments:

  • Butler Houses in Bronx;
  • Astoria Houses in Queens;
  • Riis Houses in Manhattan; and
  • Brownsville, Marcy, and Linden Houses in Brooklyn.

Previously, the de Blasio administration’s Neighborhood Rat Reduction Plan charted a plan to reduce the rat population by as much as 70 percent in the City’s most infested neighborhoods. These include the Grand Concourse area, Chinatown/East Village/Lower East Side, and Bushwick/Bedford-Stuyvesant.

NYCHA is applying dry-ice abatement treatments, assigning full-time exterminators, and installing trash bins and new concrete floors as part of Mayor de Blasio’s $32 million effort. Since its launch, the Neighborhood Rat Reduction Plan has seen a 61 percent decrease in rat burrow sightings at the 57 participating NYCHA developments. Nearly 10 developments are slated for the construction of rat slabs (i.e., concrete basements), and there have been 289 dry ice treatments since the program’s inception.

The Authority’s NYCHA 2.0 Clean Fleet Plan describes NYCHA’s efforts to effectively reduce vehicle-related carbon emissions by 40 percent by the year 2028. The NYCHA Clean Fleet Plan outlines a long-term transition to electric vehicles and near-term actions to support best practices in clean-fleet management, including the utilization of electric trucks in garbage management.

Through this pilot, NYCHA will test electric trucks’ utility, durability, and ease of maintenance while also implementing new garbage removal protocols to assist with rat infestations.

“I’m pleased to see NYCHA making these investments, which will yield multiple benefits like making our neighborhoods cleaner, helping reduce the presence of rats and cutting carbon emissions,” said Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez. “This is a positive step and I look forward to seeing further investments like these going forward throughout our City.”

“It is encouraging that NYCHA will purchase these six electric-powered tilt trucks,” said Council Member Costa Constantinides, Chair of the Committee on Environmental Protection. “Along with expediting garbage pickup, improving cleanliness and reducing rat populations, it will also advance our efforts to electrify the City’s vehicle fleet and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Reducing carbon emissions are especially necessary for Astoria Houses residents, who for too long have shouldered far too many environmental burdens.”

“With the purchase of this electric vehicle fleet, NYCHA shows that it is committed to improving the health and safety of residents. This will improve the quality of life for the residents and neighbors of the six NYCHA developments, including Marcy Houses,” said Council Member Robert E. Cornegy Jr., Chair of the Housing and Buildings Committee.

“As we enter the dog days of summer, effective waste management at NYCHA developments is critical to ensuring that residents have a clean living environment free of rats and other pests. These electric tilt trucks will make a big difference for Riis residents and I look forward to additional trash pickups coming to other developments in the future,” said Council Member Carlina Rivera.

“Local 237 Teamsters members believe in the Housing Authority mission. This new innovation will help us more easily and effectively do what we do best: assist tenants and maintain property,” said Local 237 President Greg Floyd.

About the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the largest public housing authority in North America, was created in 1935 to provide decent, affordable housing for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers. NYCHA is home to 1 in 17 New Yorkers, providing affordable housing to 528,105 authorized residents through public housing and Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) programs as well as Section 8 housing. NYCHA has 177,569 apartments in 2,411 buildings across 335 conventional public housing and PACT developments. In addition, NYCHA connects residents to critical programs and services from external and internal partners, with a focus on economic opportunity, youth, seniors, and social services. With a housing stock that spans all five boroughs, NYCHA is a city within a city.

For more information, please visit nyc.gov/nycha, and for regular updates on NYCHA news and services, connect with us via Facebook and Twitter.

Avatar
Jonas Bronck is the pseudonym under which we publish and manage the content and operations of The Bronx Daily.™ | Bronx.com - the largest daily news publication in the borough of "the" Bronx with over 1.5 million annual readers. Publishing under the alias Jonas Bronck is our humble way of paying tribute to the person, whose name lives on in the name of our beloved borough.