"We must ask that your office place a hold on any contracts that would increase the amount of waste sent to communities that are already overburdened by waste processing facilities," said the letter, which was also signed by Councilmen Steve Levin, I. Daneek Miller and Rafael Salamanca.

The request came after a testy exchange between Reynoso and Garcia at Friday's sanitation budget hearing. Reynoso scolded Garcia for not doing more to reduce the amount of trash that gets shipped to and transferred from sections of north Brooklyn, southeast Queens and the South Bronx.

"I'm extremely disappointed that we haven't been more creative or thoughtful" about how trash is distributed in the city, he said.