Rodent-proof trash bin installed in the North End in December, 2024. Photo: James Rojas/ WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Boston City Council made moves during a meeting Wednesday to further tackle rodent problems in the city.
“Boston’s rodent problem is getting worse, not better,” City Councilor Erin Murphy said at the meeting.
Murphy, along with City Councilor Ed Flynn, put forward an ordinance to require rat-resistant trash containers.
“Residents are fed up and while we’ve invested in pest control and public education, we can’t ignore one of the biggest drivers of infestations: unsecured, broken, or overflowing trash barrels,” Murphy said.
The ordinance said the Boston neighborhoods with the highest number of 311 complaints about rats include Allston-Brighton, Dorchester, Chinatown, the South End, Roxbury, East Boston, and South Boston."
Flynn also put forward a ordinance, with Murphy as a co-sponsor, that would create an office of pest control, which could mean the appointment of a rat czar.
He said the while the already-established Boston Rodent Action Plan (BRAP) has “outlined positive steps,” but it “falls short” in addressing pest problems in the city.
“In Boston, pest control continues to be a cross-departmental effort…but Boston is ranked 12th in the country for this problem,” Flynn said. “I continue to advocate that we should streamline the process with its own standalone city department and point person focused on this issue. I think it’s that serious.”
Meantime, City Councilor Sharon Durkan put forth an order requesting a hearing on same-day residential trash pickup and containerization for commercial waste.
“The city recently hired an urban rodentologist which confirmed in the Boston Rodent Action Plan that leaving bags out overnight is one of the biggest drivers of infestation,” Durkan said.
She said a state law that bans leaving plastic bags on the street is not being enforced. Durkan also acknowledged that “neighborhoods like Back Bay and Beacon Hill present challenges when it comes to space” for trash containers.
“For many units there used to be basement-level trash rooms. Those have been converted into apartments,” Durkan said. “This hearing is about tackling the problem from both ends: reducing the time residential trash sits on our streets and ensuring commercial trash, especially food waste from restaurants and businesses, is in secured containers instead of left out in exposed bags.”
WBZ NewsRadio's Jim MacKay (@JimMackayOnAir) reports.