Upper Green Side

Putting Rodents on the Run

Share this item:

This week, Community Board is having a forum on how the Upper East Side can better prevent infestations of rodents in the neighborhood. On January 24, 2008 at the NY Blood Center, 310 East 67th Street, (First-Second), Auditorium they will have a forum entitled “Rodents on the Run: What You Can Do To Combat Rats and Other Vermin”.

The proliferation of rats and other vermin can be linked to a lot of different sources, but perhaps the most obvious cause is right in front of us everyday - large piles of trash bags on our sidewalks, overflowing public trash cans on streets and in parks that can be easily be torn or chewed through by rodents. About a third of our trash is “organic matter” - in other words, “food” to rodents. One way to reduce the amount of organic matter in our trash available to rodents would be to compost as much as possible in sturdy anaerobic compost bins that could be placed on rooftops, backyards or even in city parks. This would help reduce the overall waste-load considerably as much of the weight in our organic waste is just moisture trapped inside. It would also provide our parks, gardens and other green spaces with local supply of high quality soil.

Another way to reduce rodent access to our food waste would be to place as much of that waste into hard containers, like the Big Belly Solar bins that can hold over 10 times the amount of trash as a regular trash can on the street.

Or what about just plain old trash cans and other hard shelled containers that could store trash - maybe even on the street instead of the sidewalk. For the price of a couple of parking spots per block, we could unclog our sidewalks from stinky piles of trash that block pedestrians, elderly with walkers and baby carriages from passage on our sidewalks.

Come with your ideas to the forum on Thursday and help our neighborhood put Rodents on the Run!!