Residents report mixed experiences so far with the city’s twice-weekly trash pickup program

When Mayor Cherelle L. Parker announced in December that the city was beginning a twice-weekly trash pickup pilot in Center City and South Philly, she said it was because cleanliness “is what residents can see, touch and feel the most.”

Four months into the program, residents have seen and felt inconsistency. Some said that the extra pickup day has made a noticeable improvement on their block. Others said the difference has been marginal at best, or sometimes, even contributed to more trash spilling onto the street and sidewalk.

On the morning of the second trash collection of the week in Pennsport, Christy picked her emptied trash can off the ground in disgust. The lid was broken, and pieces of trash still littered her sidewalk and narrow street.

Christy, who declined to give her last name out of fear of retaliation, said she never knows when the second pickups of the week are going to happen. This time the trash collectors came as they were scheduled, but other weeks they have come days late or not at all, she said. But it’s not much of a reprieve when they do arrive. Christy said that it is just another opportunity for trash to end up on the street and for her trash cans to get damaged when the collectors toss them aside after loading their truck.

“It’s almost messier the day after they come,” she said.

Confusion about the program seems to be reflected in an initial uptick of calls to the city’s 311 line asking “what day is trash/recycling collection in my neighborhood?” That question was the most-asked to the 311 line in January, the first full month of the twice-weekly trash pickup pilot, an Inquirer review of data from the city found.

“We received some reports of missed collections since the inception of the program and we are carefully monitoring 311 reports to ensure we immediately follow up on missed complaints,” Office of Clean and Green Initiatives spokesperson Keisha McCarty-Skelton said in a statement. She encouraged city residents to continue to call 311 with questions or issues with trash pickup.

Councilmember Mark Squilla’s chief of staff, Anne Kelly King, said over email that feedback on the second garbage collection day had been “positive.” She added that constituents have sometimes called with problems; some were unaware that the second pickup does not occur on city holiday weeks.

“We tell our residents who do complain that this is a new program and Sanitation needs time to evaluate and work out any kinks. CM Squilla is pleased and supportive of the initiative,” she said.

Morgan Rodriguez, chair of the South of South Neighborhood Association, said she’s heard from a few neighbors that like the program and believe it has been a net positive. But they noted inconsistency as an issue, too, which sometimes leads to more trash on the street. “If it’s missed the trash will sit out for another 4-5 days waiting for the regular trash collection, which is never good,” she said over email.

“I like having twice-a-week trash,” said Mike Tieff of Bella Vista, joking that he used to envy his friends living in the suburbs who always had two pickups per week. “That seems so luxurious,” he said. After some initial issues with the pilot, Tieff said, his pickups now are consistent and he praised the job that sanitation workers have been doing in his area.

But Tieff guessed that only a fifth of his neighbors actually participate in the pilot, so he said he hasn’t noticed much of a change in the cleanliness of his block. His bigger complaint is when neighbors put their trash out in paper bags that can easily spill over.

“I find that if anything, the more times we put trash out … more opportunities for it to spread around,” he said.

Lydia Currie, president of East Point Breeze Neighbors organization, said that the pilot has been positive for her neighborhood, even though pickups sometimes come a day later than they’re scheduled.

“People are so relieved to have a second chance to get rid of trash. This was a quality-of-life issue for some households to a degree I did not realize,” she said. “It can be a real misery to have excess, stinky trash.”

Currie’s only complaints are about reliability and communication. She said her neighborhood should know exactly which day the pickup is happening every time, or the city should tell them clearly what to do with their trash if a pickup gets missed, as opposed to just leaving it out and hoping the trucks come the next day.

“The fact that it’s imperfect doesn’t mean we should stop,” she said.

When Philly residents have gathered on Reddit to complain about the twice-weekly program, they’ve offered their own solutions to the city’s trash problems.

Some Reddit users advocated that the city put trash cans on every corner, or place centralized dumpsters where people can take their trash whenever it accumulates. Others suggested that the Philly ought to move to city-issued trash cans, like those used in New York City, so people are less likely to put paper bags or other inadequate receptacles on the street.

Whether residents appreciate the extra pickups or loathe them, the Parker administration is committed to the program. When it was announced in December, officials said they were already planning to expand twice-weekly trash pickups to North Philly and West Philly this fall.