New Electric Tilt Truck Pilot Program at NYCHA
NYCHA is piloting a faster way to handle garbage pickup with the use of six new, 100 percent electric-powered tilt trucks. The trucks will also improve development cleanliness at six sites and reduce the Authority’s vehicle-related carbon emissions.
These electric-powered 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 staff have been trained to use the trucks and will use them to improve garbage pickup at the following developments:
- Butler Houses in the Bronx;
- Astoria Houses in Queens;
- Riis Houses in Manhattan; and
- Brownsville, Marcy, and Linden Houses in Brooklyn.
“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.”
The electric vehicles are part of the Authority’s new NYCHA 2.0 Clean Fleet Plan, which aims to reduce NYCHA’s vehicle-related carbon emissions by 40 percent by the year 2028. The plan outlines a long-term transition to electric vehicles as well as short-term actions, including the use of electric trucks in garbage management.
Through this pilot, NYCHA will test electric trucks’ usability, durability, and ease of maintenance while also implementing new garbage removal procedures to assist with rat infestations.
The six developments receiving the new tilt trucks are located within the City’s Rat Mitigation Zones that are included in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Neighborhood Rat Reduction Plan. The plan seeks to reduce the rat population by as much as 70 percent in the city’s most infested neighborhoods, including 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 started.
