Notice Details

The NYC Department of Sanitation (“DSNY”) is releasing this competitive sealed bid solicitation to seek bids from potential manufacturers to mass produce Better Bin receptacles and deploy them across New York City. Only one manufacturer will be selected for contract award by DSNY pursuant to this solicitation. DSNY currently has 23,000 litter baskets citywide, including over 13,000 wire litter baskets.

These baskets are easy for residents to misuse, accessible to rats, and often overflowing. Group Project, a local design team, prototyped the litter basket of the future: rat resistant, harder for residents and business to misuse, easier for Sanitation Workers to use, and with more volume. The selected manufacturer will be working with DSNY and Group Project to produce Better Bins. One key innovation drove the design both functionally and aesthetically—a modular, three-part construction. The receptacle consists of a stand, lid, and recyclable plastic basket. The stand, which stays on the street corner, serves as a home base to anchor and protect the basket. It’s designed to withstand heavy winds and the wear-and-tear of NYC streets. Perforations allow for visual inspection. A bisected lid serves three purposes. First, it’s a hinge that opens the lid for the removal of the basket. Second, it keeps refuse in and bulky or household waste out. Third, it improves upon the current premium basket’s design, because there are not side access doors which invite rodents and need to be shoveled out after snowstorms. The plastic basket is less than half the weight of the current green wire mesh receptacle. This reduction in weight lightens a Sanitation Worker’s load. Additional handles at vital touch points on the basket improve ergonomics and flexibility in use.

A modular design allows DSNY to replace the most abused part, the basket, before it must replace the entire receptacle, thereby lowering the overall cost. Better Bin is better – for New Yorkers, for Sanitation Workers, and for the City.