Killing stirs push to redo city trash biz

The indictment of a private carting company owner accused of cleaning up a Staten Island murder has critics demanding the City Council act fast on approving the Commercial Waste Zone bill that was just introduced.

Critics are also demanding that the city’s Business Integrity Commission suspend operations of Flag Container Services Inc., which is owned by William Formica.

In January Formica, 59, was indicted on hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence charges after he was accused of helping ex-con Angelo Nesimi dispose of Michael Stewart’s body. Nesimi knifed Stewart to death a month earlier inside his Staten Island apartment.

According to the indictment, Formica, Nesimi’s landlord, helped his tenant dispose of the body in dumpsters and at a waste transfer station. He was released on $75,000 bail, according to court documents.

It was not immediately disclosed if Formica used his trucks at Flag Container to dispose of Stewart’s body, but members of Transform Don’t Trash NYC say the owner’s indictment is enough to shut the company down.

Under city law, private carters need to show “good character, honesty and integrity” to qualify and keep their license to operate in the city.

“Flag Container’s behavior, as alleged in the indictment, exemplifies the lawlessness of the private carting industry,” the group said in a statement released Thursday. “There is no excuse for this company still having a license months after the owner’s indictment in this horrific crime.”

The group also encouraged the City Council to move ahead with its Commercial Waste Zone bill, which will allow one private carter per zone and weed out rogue trash haulers.

While residential refuse pickup is handled by the city Sanitation Department, waste from stores and businesses is picked up by private haulers. Because the private haulers have contracts with individual businesses, they run roughshod across the five boroughs, hauling trash for their respective clients.