After every Broadway show, pizza slice, and Times Square photo, a New York City visit wouldn’t be complete without one other iconic sight: trash bags. For over a century, these black and clear bundles have piled up on the curbsides of New York, becoming part of the city’s landscape. But that’s starting to change.

In this series, NYU’s News and Documentary Class of 2026 explores the efforts of the Department of Sanitation and various New Yorkers to tackle this issue—from new plastic containers and high-tech composting bunkers to good old rat-catching and litter pickup groups—showing that everyone has a stake in making the city cleaner and more sustainable.