Polishing the Big Apple: How Management Science Has Helped Make New York Streets Cleaner

Management science has played a critical role in increasing the ability of New York’s Department of Sanitation to clean the city’s streets. Not only has the department achieved five consecutive years of improved cleanliness ratings (currently at 68.7 percent acceptably clean from a low of 53 percent), but current ratings are near record levels (72 percent) with 700 fewer cleaners than we had when we last achieved those record ratings. To achieve ratings equal to the highest ever recorded we will need approximately 400 fewer cleaners than we used to have. A savings of 400 cleaners is equivalent in financial terms to $12 million a year in salaries and fringe benefit costs.