New invention to starve rats: CITIBINs made to be impenetrable

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — The Brooklyn Heights Promenade will be even more eye-pleasing — and less ratty — in 2024, thanks to the installation of multiple new CITIBIN trash containers.

The modular bins were officially dedicated at a ceremony on Friday as Koren Volk, president of the Brooklyn Heights Association, and Councilmember Lincoln Restler jointly chucked a bag of garbage into one at the Promenade entrance at Montague Street.

The lockable, rat-proof bins made of aluminum will hold the garbage collected from the historic walkway by Parks Department employees at the end of every day, according to Tannise Palmer, Parks regional manager for West Brooklyn.

Until now, the garbage was stacked in plastic bags at Promenade entrances until pickup — presenting an attractive meal opportunity for Rattus Promenadus. 

“The BHA often gets complaints about rats and sanitation conditions on and near the Promenade — the high volume of visitors means lots of trash is generated, and much of that trash is food-related,” BHA Executive Director Lara Birnback told the Brooklyn Eagle.

Birnback, who lives nearby, said she had noticed that bags full of trash were piled up at the Promenade entrances for collection. “We’ve been eagerly following the moves NYC has been making to containerize more and more of our waste, and we’d seen how the Montague BID had successfully piloted using CITIBINs as part of the Clean Curbs program.”

Birnback said BHA approached Restler about the idea of bringing containers to the Promenade entrances, “And he was immediately on board — helping steward the idea through the chain of command at NYC Parks and ultimately providing half of the funding.” (BHA provided the other half.)

“We won’t have bags stacked on the street anymore at the entrance to the Promenade, which, of course, invites rats, and it’s ugly,” Restler said. “Now we have beautiful new CITIBINs to store our garbage. Our office went halfsies on it with BHA, and we are so happy that the Parks Department was such a willing and enthusiastic partner to make it happen. We want to see this replicated all across the city.”

Restler added, “Garbage is the primary source of food for rats, and if we are able to containerize our waste and make it inaccessible to rats, it makes a big difference in reducing the public health hazard that they represent.”

The four sets of CITIBINs will be located at the entrances to the Promenade at Montague Street, Pierrepont Street, Clark Street and Orange Street. 

Brooklynite Liz Picarazzi, the founder and CEO of CITIBIN, said she started the business in her backyard in the South Slope in 2012. Today, it’s a national brand, and the company has expanded from serving residential customers to the municipal market.

“It’s rat proof,” she told the Eagle. “We are in 18 of the New York City Business Improvement Districts, including Montague Street, and there are no rats in those trash bins. We have about 60 of them in Times Square, and they are all rat free.”

The company even pitted the CITIBINs against hardened NYC rats — and filmed the experiment for its humorous video “Pizza Rat vs. CITIBIN.”

“It was really fun to film” Picarazzi said. “We baited our trash enclosure with New York City pizza [double sausage] and put it in an Upper West Side alley that was infested with rats. An exterminator had actually invited us to come in. We put surveillance cameras all over, and we took a video of it. It was one of the funnest marketing things I think I’ve ever done. It was our way of testing whether this would work.”

And what was the result?

“The rats were pissed,” she said.