Of course, New York City is the best city in the world. It’s full of opportunities, cultures, and historical landmarks. And if we have to suffer through some stank to live here, so be it!
However, NYC’s stench is seemingly sky-rocketing with this summer’s intense heat as odor complaints are piling up like NYC trash bags—well, before the trash revolution that is.
In fact, NYC has received almost 4,000 odor complaints this summer alone. NYC hasn’t had that gag-worthy of a summer since 2010 (and of course the stinky summer of 2022 that we don’t even need to go into).
So why is NYC so stinky right now? Well according to Ecosorb, heat and humidity create the perfect environment for bacteria growth, and after three sweaty heat waves already in the books and lots of trash produced daily, let’s just say the bacteria must be having the summer of a lifetime! Moreover, NYC already has to deal with the urban heat island effect making the city up to 7°F hotter than rural areas. Plus, NYC’s sheer population adds plenty of body oder to the mix.
Interestingly enough, your nose is also more attune to odor in the heat. “When the air is warmed and humidified it is similar to what our body temperature would be, that is when the nose operates optimally,” says Dr. Pamela Dalton from the Monell Chemical Senses Center.
And though there’s more than one hundred extra odor complaints this year compared to last, the Department of Sanitation assured the New York Post that NYC streets are cleaner than previous summers with less trash sitting out.
But hey, we’re all a little stinky in the summer. So for now, we’ll have to just plug our nose and deal with the stench until the heat subsides and it inevitably remains (because let’s not kid ourselves).