Mayor Zohran Mamdani is steering New York City's commercial carting overhaul away from a price-first mindset, putting safety and vehicle miles traveled at the top of the scorecard as the Department of Sanitation prepares to award the last two commercial waste zone contracts in Manhattan. The new rules cover the remaining unassigned Manhattan slots, including Midtown and parts of the West Village and SoHo, and mark a clear break with the previous administration’s procurement priorities.
New scoring puts safety front and center
Under the Department of Sanitation’s updated request for proposals, safety and vehicle miles traveled are combined into the single largest scoring category at 35 percent of an applicant’s total. Price is worth 25 percent, while operational capacity and technical proposals each account for 20 percent, as reported by Streetsblog New York City. DSNY Commissioner Gregory Anderson told Streetsblog the agency will closely scrutinize applicants’ driving records and how close their garages and proposed transfer stations are to the zones. With two slots in those zones already held, officials say the department felt able to dial back the weight on price and focus the third award on safety and shorter routes.
Why now: consolidation and recent crashes
The recalibration follows industry consolidation that forced DSNY to reopen bids. Filco Carting was sold to Interstate Waste Services’ Action Environmental in December, a deal that overlapped with existing assignments and triggered a re-bid, per Waste Dive. That corporate shuffle, combined with pressure from safety advocates and auditors, pushed the new administration to reprioritize safety. Mayor Mamdani has also announced a broader push to speed containerization and cut truck miles citywide as part of his environmental and public safety agenda.
What the records show
A 2025 review by the New York City Comptroller found Action Carting accumulated 1,924 safety violations during the audit period and Waste Connections logged roughly 494. Critics say those numbers undercut a price-first procurement approach, and the report described Action’s record as "particularly egregious." The comptroller’s analysis shows the largest operators captured a significant share of zone assignments, concentrating both market power and the risk of unsafe operations. Streetsblog also reports that a Royal Waste truck, from a company later acquired by Waste Connections, was involved in a fatal crash this month in the Queens West collective zone, underscoring advocates’ concerns about driver safety.
Enforcement and oversight tools
DSNY’s Commercial Waste Zones framework gives the agency tools to monitor fleets with telematics, impose fines and, when needed, revoke contracts. Those measures are detailed in the department’s FY2025 Commercial Waste Zone annual report and procurement documents (DSNY FY2025 CWZ Annual Report). The FY25 report outlines a phased rollout and telematics-based tracking of vehicle miles traveled, which the agency says will help the city meet its goal of completing the zone rollout by the end of 2027. Auditors and advocates caution that day-to-day monitoring, inspections and follow-through enforcement will determine whether the scoring change actually translates into safer streets.
What’s next
For now, the new scoring will apply only to the two unassigned Manhattan awards, while other zones remain under existing contracts until their next procurements. DSNY officials say evaluators will prioritize applicants’ driving records and proximity to service points, and that the department can suspend or strip authorizations for firms that fail to meet safety standards as laid out in DSNY rules.
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