Adopt-a-Basket - DSNY

New York City Department of Sanitation


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Adopt-a-Basket

Community Recycling Events

donateNYC

ecycleNYC

Get Compost

refashionNYC

SAFE Disposal Events

Special Waste Drop-Off


Adopt-a-Basket

DSNY keeps NYC clean, safe, and healthy — and New Yorkers, businesses and organizations can too, by partnering with us and adopting a litter basket.

Why Volunteer

Litter baskets in busy commercial corridors can get filled more quickly than they can be emptied. Overflowing garbage cans create dirty and unhealthy street conditions and are unsightly.

Volunteers in our Adopt-a-Basket program help protect New Yorkers' health and quality of life by keeping many of the City's 23,000+ litter baskets from overflowing.

How to Help

DSNY provides a regular supply of free plastic liners, a collection schedule, work gloves, and a dust bin and broom.

Volunteers monitor their adopted litter baskets. When baskets are three-quarters full, volunteers remove the plastic liners and insert new ones. They tie the mostly-full trash bags and leave them next to the baskets.

Enroll in DSNY's Adopt-a-Basket program.

Request additional liners.

Other Ways to Get Involved

Sponsor-a-Basket

DSNY is piloting Better Bins, a newly designed litter basket that is rat resistant, holds more volume, harder for the public to misuse, and easier for our workers to empty.

During the pilot, we will not be accepting sponsorships for our current litter baskets. Stay tuned as we develop opportunities to sponsor Better Bins.

Litter Basket Suggestion

Suggest a public litter basket be placed on the corner of a major commercial street or near a major transportation hub.