双语外刊：纽约是如何搞定老鼠问题的？

Using crime fighting tactics, the city is taking on its rats and rubbish

利用打击犯罪的策略，城市正在与老鼠和垃圾作斗争

AH NEW YORK, how it sparkles—from afar. Street level is a different experience. Smelly rubbish mounds create trash-fjords on city pavements, with buildings on one side and piles of black bin-bags on the other. New Yorkers know to lift their feet to avoid the garbage juice that leaks from the bags. Rats feed on the bags, startling even the hardiest citizens. For decades New York endured this, nay accepted it, but no more. A massive “containerisation programme” is under way. The piles of black bin-bags are being replaced by a technology new to the city: secure bins.

啊，纽约，它是多么闪亮--从远处看。在街头则是另一番景象。臭气熏天的垃圾堆在城市人行道上形成垃圾峡湾，一边是建筑物，一边是成堆的黑色垃圾袋。纽约人知道抬起脚来避开从垃圾袋中渗出的垃圾汁。老鼠以垃圾袋为食，即使是最顽强的市民也会被吓一跳。几十年来，纽约人一直忍受着这种生活，甚至可以说是接受了这种生活，但现在再也不会了。一项大规模的 "集装箱化计划 "正在实施。成堆的黑色垃圾袋正在被一种城市新技术所取代：安全垃圾桶。

On October 11th Eric Adams, New York City’s mayor, and Jessica Tisch, his sanitation commissioner, announced that from autumn of 2024 buildings with nine or fewer residential units will be required to place all trash in secure containers. That will cover 765,000 buildings, or 95% of the city’s residential properties. It follows similar measures for commercial trash, which amounts to roughly 20m pounds (9m kg) a day, announced last month. Container rules for the city’s 40,000 food-related businesses, including restaurants, grocers and bodegas, were implemented over the summer. Altogether 70% of the city’s waste is heading into containers.

10 月 11 日，纽约市市长埃里克-亚当斯（Eric Adams）和环卫专员杰西卡-蒂施（Jessica Tisch）宣布，从 2024 年秋季起，住宅单元数在 9 个或 9 个以下的建筑必须将所有垃圾放置在安全的容器中。这将覆盖 76.5 万栋建筑，即全市 95% 的住宅物业。在此之前，上个月还宣布了针对商业垃圾的类似措施，每天大约有 2000 万磅（约合 900 万公斤）的商业垃圾。针对全市 40,000 家食品相关企业（包括餐馆、杂货店和酒馆）的容器规定已于今年夏天开始实施。该市总共有 70% 的垃圾被装入集装箱。

Containerisation is the norm for cities like Barcelona, Milan and Paris. Cities in South Korea and the Netherlands use submerged ones, something out of reach for New York, where the realm below the pavement is a crowded maze of sewage pipes, gas pipes, power cables, fibre optics and the subway. “We are playing a massive game of catch-up with the rest of the world,” says Ms Tisch. “New York City is not going to be the first city to containerise trash; we’re going to be one of the last.”

集装箱化是巴塞罗那、米兰和巴黎等城市的常态。韩国和荷兰的城市使用的是水下集装箱，这对纽约来说是遥不可及的，因为纽约的人行道下面是污水管道、煤气管道、电力电缆、光纤和地铁组成的拥挤的迷宫。"蒂施女士说："我们正在与世界其他地方玩一场大规模的追赶游戏。"纽约市不会是第一个将垃圾集装箱化的城市，我们将是最后一个。

Containerisation seems revolutionary. But it is also a return to old ways. Metal containers, like the one Oscar the Grouch, a character on Sesame Street, lives in, had been used since the 1930s to keep rats at bay and the city’s streets clean. Their use faded after a 1968 strike saw piles of rubbish uncollected for nine days. The stench and mess became so bad the city distributed plastic bags for the overflow. They soon became a formal part of rubbish collection.

集装箱化似乎是一场革命。但这也是一种旧方式的回归。自 20 世纪 30 年代起，人们就开始使用金属集装箱，如《芝麻街》中的人物奥斯卡-格劳奇（Oscar the Grouch）所住的集装箱，以防止老鼠出没，保持城市街道的清洁。在 1968 年的一次罢工中，成堆的垃圾连续九天无人收集，此后，铁桶的使用逐渐减少。臭气熏天，脏乱不堪，于是市政府分发了塑料袋来装载垃圾。塑料袋很快成为垃圾收集的正式组成部分。

The bags also helped the growth of the rat population. Mr Adams, a former police captain who promised to fight both crime and rats, declared rats “Public Enemy No 1”. This is more than just rhetoric. The Sanitation Department draws inspiration from the Police Department. Three decades ago city crime began to fall when policing changed from responsive to preventive tactics and enforcement, relying on crime statistics to spot problem areas. This CompStat programme entails weekly crime-control strategy meetings among the NYPD’s commanders.

这些袋子还助长了老鼠数量的增长。亚当斯先生曾是一名警察队长，他承诺打击犯罪和老鼠，并宣布老鼠为 "头号公敌"。这不仅仅是说说而已。环卫部门从警察局得到了启发。三十年前，城市犯罪率开始下降，当时的警务工作从应对性转变为预防性策略和执法，依靠犯罪统计数据来发现问题区域。这项 CompStat 计划要求纽约警察局的指挥官每周召开一次犯罪控制战略会议。

Ms Tisch, who worked in the Police Department for 12 years, launched TrashDash in May, inspired by CompStat. Every week sanitation leaders meet to create strategies to deal with upticks they see in rubbish data from 311 calls (a sort of municipal customer service). For example, if they see a spike in missed collections, they will dig into the complaints to see what they have in common. The department has also stepped up enforcement of current rules. At the same time it is cleaning highways, enforcing rules for street vendors and implementing citywide compost collection.

在警察局工作了 12 年的 Tisch 女士受 CompStat 的启发，于今年 5 月推出了 TrashDash。每周，环卫部门的领导都会召开会议，针对从 311 电话（一种市政客户服务）中获得的垃圾数据，制定应对策略。例如，如果发现漏收垃圾的情况激增，他们就会对投诉进行分析，看看这些投诉有什么共同点。该部门还加强了对现行规则的执行。与此同时，该部门还在清洁高速公路、执行街头摊贩规则并在全市范围内实施堆肥收集。

“We absolutely and emphatically reject the status quo,” says Ms Tisch. She has overhauled operations so that trash in high-density areas is collected earlier. The rats appear to be in retreat (though they could be regrouping). This summer brought a 20% decrease citywide in rat complaints to 311. “Rat-mitigation zones” saw a 45% decrease. A pilot containerisation programme was launched last month in Hamilton Heights, in Manhattan’s West Harlem, a neighbourhood with a large number of rat complaints. Rodent-resistant containers were put on the streets for residents. Rubbish collection increased to six days a week in August. Schools in the area are also using containers.

"蒂施女士说："我们绝对坚决反对现状。蒂施女士说，"我们绝对反对现状。"她对垃圾处理工作进行了全面调整，以便更早地收集高密度地区的垃圾。老鼠似乎正在撤退（尽管它们可能正在重新集结）。今年夏天，全市的老鼠投诉减少了 20%，达到 311 起。"灭鼠区 "减少了 45%。上个月，在曼哈顿西哈莱姆区的汉密尔顿高地（Hamilton Heights）启动了一项集装箱化试点计划，该社区有大量老鼠投诉。街道上为居民放置了防鼠容器。8 月份，垃圾收集增加到每周六天。该地区的学校也在使用容器。

Most New Yorkers are on board but, this being New York, unanimity is elusive. Andrew Rigie of the New York Hospitality Alliance, which represents restaurants and bars, points out that they do not have space inside for bins, while leaving them outside reduces sidewalk eating space. Clare Miflin of the Centre for Zero Waste Design worries that people will turn against the containerisation if the pilot scheme is not done well, or if it ends up being too expensive.

大多数纽约人都表示支持，但由于纽约的特殊性，意见并不统一。代表餐馆和酒吧的纽约酒店业联盟的安德鲁-里基（Andrew Rigie）指出，餐馆和酒吧内部没有空间放置垃圾桶，而将垃圾桶放在室外又会减少人行道上的用餐空间。零废弃物设计中心的克莱尔-米夫林（Clare Miflin）担心，如果试点计划做得不好，或者最终成本太高，人们会反对集装箱化。

Sanitation is one of the few things that is firmly under municipal control, unlike the MTA (which runs the subway). So the city has a lot of power, says Justin Wood of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. Ms Tisch is well aware of her agency’s impact: “If we don’t do our job for one day, everyone notices. If we don’t do our job for two or three days, that’s a public-health crisis.” If she succeeds, New Yorkers will no longer have to sniff trash baking in the summer heat. And the all-night, all-you-can-eat rat buffet will be closed. ■

与运营地铁的MTA不同，环卫是少数几个由市政当局牢牢掌控的部门之一。纽约公共利益律师事务所的贾斯汀-伍德（Justin Wood）说，因此市政府拥有很大的权力。蒂施女士非常清楚她的机构的影响力："如果我们一天没做好工作，每个人都会注意到。如果我们两三天不尽职，那就是公共卫生危机。如果她成功了，纽约人就再也不用在炎炎夏日嗅着垃圾的味道了。通宵达旦、任食任吃的老鼠自助餐也将关闭。■