To ensure compliance with trash laws, NYC considers deploying drones

New York City’s sanitation department is considering enlisting drones in its war on trash.

Sanitation department spokesperson Joshua Goodman confirmed the agency is exploring how drones could bolster enforcement of cleanliness rules such as illegal dumping, or setting out trash for pickup earlier than allowed. If implemented, the drones would represent a new use of the technology championed by Mayor Eric Adams, despite civil liberties concerns about omnipresent eyes in the sky. The NYPD has embraced drones, using the devices to monitor protests, discourage subway surfing and apprehend suspects more than 2,800 times in the first three quarters of 2024 alone, according to city reports.

Goodman said that drones could be useful tools for boosting quality of life in neighborhoods dealing with scofflaw dumpers, litterbugs and people who leave “ghost cars” with bogus license plates – or no plates at all – on the street.

“How does it feel when there's trash on the same street every single day? How does it feel when there's a ghost car parked on the same block every single day?” he said.

“Wouldn't it be great if there was somebody holding people accountable who are hurting your quality of life, saying to them, ‘no, you don't get away with dirtying these neighborhoods. You don't get away with leaving your personal property in the parking lane indefinitely.’”

But the notion of expanding sanitation enforcement using drones didn’t sit well with  Albert Fox Cahn, who is the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, or STOP.

“ I think this plan is garbage,” Cahn said.

“ It's hard to put into words just how absurd I think it is that we're actually talking about a litterbug air force that is going to be tasked with monitoring people from the skies to swoop in if they're putting out garbage on the wrong day for pickup,” he said.

Cahn noted that until November, the sanitation department was run by Jessica Tisch, who is now NYPD commissioner. She’s earned a reputation for using cutting-edge technology to aid enforcement.

Under Tisch, the sanitation department more aggressively deployed hidden cameras to catch illegal dumpers in the act. Last year, the department issued $1.5 million in fines for illegal dumping, according to city data.

“We've seen the sanitation department turn more and more to using surveillance, particularly under the last commissioner, who went from implementing trash surveillance cameras to running the entire city's surveillance operation as NYPD commissioner,” he said.

The sanitation department would also explore whether drones could assist in snowplowing streets and performing inspections of the department's vehicles and infrastructure, according to Goodman.

Other agencies besides the NYPD have also used drones in recent years. The FDNY has used drones for years as part of firefighting work. And the parks department is set to take over a drone fleet the NYPD used to search for drowning people and sharks at city beaches as soon as the summer of 2026.

Angel Lopez, 55, who owns the Lopez Family Deli Restaurant in Fort Greene, said he prefers the status quo, where inspectors on foot fine businesses that don’t clean sidewalks.

“Normally there is a person who gives a ticket, an inspector who comes and checks. If it’s dirty outside, you are allowed to have a ticket because you are supposed to clean it,” he said.

“With a drone, anyone can throw something outside and you don't realize it and they give you a ticket,” he said.