Trash, ice line New York City streets as snow falls

Eyewitness News
NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York City has suspended alternate-side parking through the weekend due to solid ice and uncollected trash that line the streets, all while nuisance snow fell across the region Tuesday morning.

The New York City Department of Sanitation says the 1 to 3 inches of accumulation requires the staff to focus on salt spreading and possible plowing.

And because of the barrage of winter storms, there are thousands of tons of uncollected trash and recycling at curbsides. Officials say that each day of snow work, 12,000 tons of trash and recycling pile up. Last week, at least three days of collection were lost because of snow clearing for three separate storms. That means at least 36,000 tons of waste is sitting at curbside.

The men and women who clear snow from the 6,300 miles of city streets are the same workers who pick up that trash, and the workers who ordinarily operate the alternate-side parking mechanical brooms are needed to assist in resolving the backlogged trash issue.

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