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Recycling summonses and warnings issued
Recycle waste. — Enforce recycling regulations.
Recycling summonses roughly tripled from FY22 to FY25 in two enforcement waves: new set-out and recycling rules drove a 48% jump in FY23, and then the citywide expansion of mandatory curbside composting in November 2024 brought a fresh round of enforcement, pushing summonses and warnings up another 85% in FY25. Local reporting has since described composting-related tickets reaching record daily highs as DSNY ramped up enforcement.
Researched July 16, 2026 — DSNY, Fiscal 2023 Mayor's Management Report, DSNY, Fiscal 2025 Mayor's Management Report, Gothamist, "Composting in NYC is still low. Tickets for neglecting it are at an all-time high."
* Year to date — this fiscal year isn't complete, so it's not compared against prior years in the target/trend status above. The dashed marker projects a full-year estimate at the current year-to-date pace.
View as table
| Fiscal year | Actual |
|---|---|
| FY22 | 32,015 summonses |
| FY23 | 47,267 summonses |
| FY24 | 51,848 summonses |
| FY25 | 95,947 summonses |
| FY26 (YTD) | 54,871 summonses |
| FY26 (projected) | ~73,161 summonses |
Why this is tracked
New York City Council enacted Local Law 19 of 1989, the city's first mandatory recycling law, after roughly two years of negotiation among councilmembers, the Koch administration, and environmental advocates, setting an initial 25% recycling target for the mid-1990s. The law followed a smaller 1986 pilot program collecting newspapers, and it aimed to reduce dependence on Fresh Kills landfill, which was already straining under the volume of the city's waste. When Fresh Kills, then the world's largest landfill, closed in 2001 under a 1996 state law and community pressure, New York lost its last in-city disposal option and now exports nearly all residential garbage out of state, making recycling and other diversion programs central to controlling the city's waste footprint and cost.
New York City's History-Making Recycling Law Turns 25 - NRDC, Fresh Kills Landfill - Wikipedia
Source: Enforcement — via NYC Open Data: Mayor's Management Report, Agency Performance Indicators
Coverage shown: FY22–FY26, reported monthly.
Definition: Summonses and warnings issued to residents and commercial establishments for violating recycling regulations.