Bed Bugs in New York City | New York vs Bed Bugs

NYC Department of Health healthy homes bed bug guide^

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has published a bed bug guide (PDF) that is also available for download in Spanish (PDF), Chinese (PDF), Russian (PDF), Creole (PDF), Italian (PDF), and Korean (PDF) check for other languages that may be translated here. Call 311 to request a free copy of the English-language printed booklet (other languages available only as downloads). You can use this basic and easy-to-follow guide to spread awareness about bed bugs and to educate neighbors, landlords and friends who are new to the problem. (Check our resources page for more bed bug management guides.)

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Starting December 3, 2010 DSNY will require all mattresses and box springs set out for collection to be encased and sealed. Full text of the rule (PDF):

1-04.1 Collection of bedding. (a) Definitions. For purposes of this section, Bedding shall mean any mattress or box spring which can be used by any human being for sleeping or reclining purposes. (b) Any person disposing of bedding for Department collection shall enclose such bedding within a plastic bag. Such bag shall be constructed in such a manner and be of such size as to readily contain the bedding to be disposed of. Such bag must be securely sealed after the bedding is placed inside. (c) Failure to enclose any bedding placed at the curbside or other designated area for collection by the department within a plastic bag pursuant to this section shall be a violation of 16-120 of the New York City Administrative Code.

Full enforcement will begin January 3, 2011. The fine will be $100. The rules are spotlighted on the front page of DSNYs website. See the press release, a graphic notice (PDF) available as a download, and a note from the commissioner in which he makes an additional recommendation:

that plastic mattress bags be placed around the discarded bedding before it is removed from the room out to the curb to further prevent bed bugs from infesting other parts of the home or apartment building.

Sealing items in the room before removal is an important principle of bed bug management and you should practice that for anything that is being removed from an infested room.

The rule applies to all mattresses and box springs, not just bed bug-infested ones.

Here are a few other things you should know. The mattress refurbishing industry does not have effective sanitizing protocols in place, and yet mattresses and box springs in the city are routinely scavenged for this purpose before they are ever collected by sanitation. Therefore, the closer to collection time that mattresses and box springs can be placed on the curb, the better, if at all possible. It is also good to attempt to make things unusable or unattractive before sealing, as well as placing a clear warning sign on items that are infested, as ordinary people in your neighborhood will also pick up stuff from the trash and risk exposure.

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Bed Bugs in New York City | New York vs Bed Bugs