Add The New York Post on Google New York’s garbage is attracting a new kind of rat.
A Staten Island woman treated herself to a mani-pedi and a fresh haircut using a hefty cash prize she won for telling city officials about a stranger who dumped a pile of trash at a public bus stop.
The tattler was entitled to half the $8,000 fine the litterbug had to pay as part of a new Sanitation Department initiative that encourages neighborhood spies to nose out curbside contaminators.
“It’s disgusting! Who knows what was in those bags? You’re dirtying the community,” the woman, who asked to go by Amy, citing privacy concerns, told The Post.
Amy is one of 29 people to have reported the dirty dumpers through the DSNY’s Illegal Dumping Award Program since it launched last November — a reward system that gives snitches half the cash of the fine the litterbugs are slapped with.
But she didn’t even know about the big bucks offer when she caught the mystery man in the act early last month.
She whipped out her phone and captured the stranger tossing five garbage bags onto the Yang Yang Park triangle on the corner of Decker and Barrett avenues — next to a DSNY public trash bin and in front of the S57 bus stop.
Amy didn’t confront the man, who hopped back in his car and peeled from the scene, but she reported him to 311.
She also posted her pic of him to a local Facebook group page, where it garnered intense outrage from neighbors disgusted at the behavior.
What Amy didn’t know was how vital her footage was — the litterbug’s license was shown clear as day in the clip.
The DSNY tracked down the illegal dumper and slapped them with two painful fines, one for the illegal dumping and one to the owner of the car — totaling $8,000.
Amy also didn’t realize she was entitled to half of what the trasher had to fork over.
“I was shocked. They told me I’d get a reward, and I was like, ‘no way,'” Amy said when DSNY told her the good news, saying she at first expected the cash to be a measly $100 and was gobsmacked when the $4,000 check arrived.
“I thought, ‘Am I seeing this right?’ I put it in the bank and then a week later it cleared and I was like, ‘Oh my god, no fraud alert! This is perfect!’ I paid my Con Ed bill, I paid the gas bill, I put food in my house.”
And the do-gooder admitted she treated herself as well: “I splurged! I got myself my nails done, my feet done and my hair did. I did do myself!”
As for the dumper, it would have cost him significantly less if he just called for a collector — the city caps pricing for private pickup at $17.64 per 100 pounds.
And it would have simply been free if the contents were household trash.
It’s always been illegal to dump personal trash — especially large items — on public property, but the DSNY launched the Illegal Dumping Award Program last year to recruit rats in its mission.
“Crooked contractors too often dump bags of construction materials in streets, lots and sidewalks that they perceive to be out of the way. We used to just clean the locations over and over, but the dumping continued, and people who lived in these neighborhoods felt that no one cared,” a spokesperson for DSNY told The Post.
“Well, this administration does care, and we have stepped up our enforcement efforts to send a clear message that dumping on neighborhoods will not be tolerated.”
Tipsters who report the deviants are eligible for up to 50% of the fines collected if the testimony leads to a punishment — which can end in a huge payout, considering dumping violation fines range from $4,000 to $18,000.
The only catch is that the witnesses may be called to a hearing if the lawbreaker challenges the ticket.
The 29 people who have so far taken advantage of the program have taken home at least a collective $116,000 for their efforts.
Illegal dumping is separate from littering, because it involves tossing the hefty trash from a vehicle.
