While summers have always been an olfactory nightmare in Manhattan as garbage bags line the city streets, it has worsened this year, as New York City has been stung by a new high-growth bacteria problem.
More complaints of stench have been reported to the city’s 311 nonemergency number from May 1 to July 23 than during the same time period in any year since 2010, excluding the summer of 2022, according to city data obtained by Gothamist, a nonprofit newsroom run by New York Public Radio, WNYC.
New Jersey meteorologist Steven DiMartino explained that heat and humidity make smells worse.
“Temperatures have been above normal, but what has been really record-breaking and impressive has been the humidity, and that’s the key,” DiMartino told the Gothamist.
Heat waves, of which New York City has experienced three this summer, create a temperature inversion in which cool nighttime temperatures and any odors are trapped below the hotter daytime air.
So, when New Yorkers detect a stink in the air, they are really smelling high-growth bacteria from garbage that is being trapped by a humid heat wave atmosphere, according to the Gothamist.
DiMartino compared this phenomenon to a laundry hamper in a warm locker room.
“After a long day of practice, you throw your uniforms in the hamper, close the lid and just let it sweat,” he said. “Now when you open up the hamper, i.e., the garbage truck, that stink is really able to grow.”
When asked by Newsweek what New York City Mayor Eric Adams is doing to combat the city’s order problem, his office mentioned containerization.
At a news conference this month, Adams and New York City Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch set out trash from Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence, in the first-ever official “NYC Bin,” symbolizing the city’s move to eliminate trash bags from its streets.
The new bins, equipped with wheels and a secure latching lid, have been touted as affordable, durable and a key part of the city’s “trash revolution.”
Besides causing an unfavorable stench, heat waves are also extremely dangerous, as they can trigger heat exhaustion, which could be deadly.
As part of New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s “Get Offline, Go Outside” campaign, she has made all pools in New York state parks, like Jones Beach, free to enter this summer. Dozens of pools across the five boroughs of New York City are also free to the public.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
