“Short-sighted and non-targeted:” Local sustainability experts weigh in on twice weekly trash collection

Green Philly checks in with neighborhoods and trash experts during the early days of Clean and Green’s new twice-a-week trash collection program.

The city rolled out a new twice-weekly trash pickup pilot at the beginning of December. The goal of the program is to reduce illegal dumping and to ‘relieve the burden of storing trash inside homes’ according to the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives and the Department of Sanitation. However, community members and trash experts say the program needs improvement. 

Center City and South Philadelphia were picked for the pilot, which – despite not being the areas of the city most affected by high amounts of litter – were chosen due to “the high population density, numerous multi-family residences, and limited waste storage capacity,” stated Keisha McCarty in an email statement, spokesperson for the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives. Representatives from the Sanitation Department declined to answer questions in an interview. 

Notably, the Twice a Week Program does not include recycling on the second day. According to the Sanitation Department, not enough recycled materials are set out to require a second collection day. 

In a digital thread with members of Circular Philadelphia, sustainability professionals said that the lack of second-day recycling does not cut down on waste overall. “Since the added trash day does not have recycling collection, it decreases diversion and increases the amount of waste we send to the incinerators in Chester and elsewhere,” wrote Benjamin Ditzler, Founder and Owner of Dyvert Recycling. 

Residents were notified in a program brochure that putting recycling out on the second day would result in fines, which McCarty confirmed are $50 on average. Tami Sortman, a resident of Washington Square West – one of the pilot neighborhoods – and president of their civic association, said she is worried that people in her neighborhood won’t remember not to recycle on the second day. “The program is so brand new,” she said. “People will need to get into a routine.” 

The Sanitation Department’s answer to the recycling confusion is to deploy Streets & Walkways Education and Enforcement Program (SWEEP) Officers to patrol pilot neighborhoods in order to “educate about and enforce sanitation regulations including no mixing of recyclables with trash during the second collection.” Additionally, the department reportedly held both virtual and in-person community meetings throughout November.

Sortman said that community members at the civic association’s monthly meeting also voiced concerns over having a weekend pickup day. “Trash on the sidewalks on the weekend is not really conducive to the neighborhood,” said Sortman. One-half of the neighborhood is receiving a second trash pickup on Saturdays. Due to historic sites and small businesses, Washington Square West sees an influx of tourists on the weekends who will potentially have to navigate around extra trash on the sidewalks. 

Still, some Center City residents expressed hopeful anticipation online:

Response in Reddit thread.

Beth Yount, a Penn State Extension Educator and Master Watershed Steward Coordinator, called the program “short-sighted and non-targeted,” leading to a “financial and labor expenditure that doesn’t meaningfully improve anything but the visuals in those two neighborhoods.”

“The City needs to move towards automation/semi-automation and containerization,” wrote Jeff Friedman in the Circular thread. Friedman is an East Kensington resident and GovTech professional. “In particular, flip the operational model so that residents bring trash and recycling to central points when convenient for them and not beholden to the City’s schedule.”

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