NYC discovers amazing new rat-fighting technology called "garbage cans with lids"

Good news, New York! Your endless war on rats has achieved its first tiny victory, and all it took was discovering what the rest of civilization figured out circa 1922: putting garbage in containers with lids, reports The Times of London.

Mayor Eric Adams, currently battling both corruption charges and a 6% approval rating, can finally claim one modest win in his self-declared "war on rats." A small pilot program in Harlem replaced sidewalk garbage bags with these mysterious new "sealed containers" and — to the stunned delight of New York City officials — rat sightings went down.

Yes, the success is limited to an area smaller than your average pizza rat's territory, but hey, progress is progress.

The city's romance with leaving garbage in plastic bags on sidewalks began during a 1968 sanitation strike, when Mayor Lindsay thought "You know what would solve this chest-high garbage problem? Making it easier for rats to access!"

Now Adams wants to implement what he calls a "trash revolution" citywide — basically introducing what every other major city on Earth has been doing since the Model T was new. The innovation? Putting garbage in bins with lids.

The catch? It might require using up to 69,000 parking spaces. But it just wouldn't be a "New York solution" unless it meant fixing one problem by creating another, would it?

Previously:
AI-powered robot rats fit right in with real rats
Drug-addicted rats infest Houston PD's evidence room
Rats with backpacks are fighting wildlife crime