Chicago! Let's ticket overflowing dumpsters on the weekend!
The dumpsters behind restaurants and apartment buildings fill up every weekend and spill over until Monday garbage pickup, because sanitation inspectors don't generally work weekends. Rats feast enough for the whole week.
of the tickets Chicago wrote this year for rat-feeding garbage were written on a Saturday or a Sunday. That's 108 out of 8,974.
- 2
- tickets on a typical weekend this year, across the whole city, compared to 46 on a typical weekday.
- 2%
- of sanitation complaints made to 311 on a Sunday get closed that day. Most (61%) sit until Tuesday or later.
- 1
- rat complaint made on a Sunday was closed the same day, out of 8,836 between January 2024 and August 2026.
Why the garbage sits all weekend
The Chicago Municipal Code only says pickup has to happen "at least once each week" (MCC 7-28-240). Most large property owners pay for weekday pickup, and if their garbage overflows on the weekend, they don't worry about it, because Chicago inspectors don't come out to check until Monday.
Our ever-growing rat infestation THRIVES on this buffet! The rats can live off this overflow all week.
Overflow is already illegal. Garbage outside a closed container violates code 7-28-260, and garbage kept in a way that feeds rats violates 7-28-710. We just need to enforce our laws.