A normally quiet Westerleigh block on Staten Island was left littered with trash and smeared dog feces after a predawn sanitation pickup that one neighbor caught on camera, residents say. A household security system recorded the early morning collection and the footage was later posted to Facebook, showing workers tossing trash bags into the roadway and a bag of dog waste breaking open under passing cars. "There's garbage everywhere and sanitation is supposed to clean up the place, not make it dirtier," said resident Alessante Catalano, who says he has reported similar problems to the city since moving to Staten Island in 2018.
As reported by the New York Post, the security camera recorded the July 3 pickup at about 5:27 a.m. The Post notes the video appears to show crew members tossing trash bags into the street and captures the moment one bag filled with dog feces splits open, its contents then smeared by cars driving through. Catalano told the paper he has seen this sort of thing before and described a February 28 incident when a worker allegedly hurled a bag containing about 20 smaller baggies of dog waste into the roadway.
Neighbors say they have repeatedly raised the alarm
Catalano said he has flagged the issue to the Department of Sanitation multiple times and has sent images of soiled streets, but neighbors say they still find litter and stray bags left behind after pickups. They add that the mess has made sidewalks unpleasant and sometimes unsafe for walking pets, particularly when excrement is tracked into the street and across the block.
City rules and what the law expects
City law prohibits littering and requires reasonable precautions to keep refuse from being scattered onto public streets, as detailed in the Administrative Code. The Department of Sanitation publishes collection guidelines and says crews are expected to collect properly set out trash without leaving a mess behind.
What comes next for the block
Neighbors say they want more consistent cleanup and clearer enforcement on their route, and they are hoping the latest incident finally gets the city’s attention. The New York Post reports that the Department of Sanitation is disciplining the workers involved. Residents say they will keep documenting problem pickups and pressing the city for better handling and thorough cleanup until, in their view, the block is properly restored.
