East Harlem tenants say bottle collectors are digging through trash and leaving a mess on the sidewalk
NEW YORK -- Bottle collectors are digging through trash and leaving a mess behind, residents in an East Harlem neighborhood say.
Every day for months, people who live in NYCHA's East River Houses say trucks park on First Avenue and 102nd Street to collect recyclables, but bags of bottles and cans get left piled sky high.
"Morning, noon and night. Three and four times a day," said Laura Alejandro.
"It's a mess"
Broken glass, bottle caps and litter get left behind.
"It's a mess because when you try to walk down the street they're so cluttered," said Mary Hayden. "It smells terrible ... like old wine and all kids of crazy scents."
Tenants whose apartments face the street say it's even worse for them.
"They're idle, so you have this exhaust going and you hear the trucks and you hear the exchange of the bottles and the clinking, the clanking," said Angie Gonzalez.
"They basically dump all the garbage that they pick up"
"They have to switch bags from black bags to clear bags. So they basically dump all the garbage that they picked up," said Lana Orin. "And you know we're trying to reduce the rat population."
CBS New York made multiple attempts to reach the owners of the truck companies, but residents believe the people coming to them with collections are mostly asylum seekers staying at the tent shelter on Randall's Island.
"It's difficult. They go through those bags to try to make their little income. It's a catch-22," said Abdul Basir.
"If we're going to provide homes to these people, we need to actually house them," said Noah Weekees.
DSNY received complaints
Residents said they made multiple 311 complaints to the Department of Sanitation, but they were closed without action.
A DSNY spokesperson said the department is investigation and takes the complaints very seriously.
NYPD said the 23rd Precinct is aware of the trucks and, when officers responded, the trucks have either left or complied with officers' directions to leave. A representative said police will continue to monitor the situation.