Koslowitz Aims New Law at Food Cart Waste

City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, D-Forest Hills, has introduced a new bill in the city council, aimed at keeping food carts from improperly disposing of waste.

The law aims to keep the food trucks from using the city's sewer system as their personal, well, sewers.

Food carts or restaurants that dump waste or oil from their kitchens and grease traps into the city's water catch basins twice in a 12 month period would have their licenses revoked. After a first offense, a restaurant would face a fine of up to $10,000.

Koslowitz said the idea for the bill came to mind after she saw food vendors in the city disposing of waste improperly.

“New York City has thousands of vendor’s throughout the five boroughs and it is important that waste is being discarded properly” said Koslowitz. “On several occasions, I have seen food handlers take grease and cooking oil at the end of the day and dump it into the catch basins. Not only is this unsanitary but it’s also damaging to the City’s sewer system.”

Grease in the sewer system can cause problem's with the city's water sewage treatment systems and cause overflows in catch basins, Koslowitz said.