PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia’s twice-a-week trash collection program began Monday in Center City and South Philadelphia.
City officials, including Council President Kenyatta Johnson, gathered on Point Breeze Avenue to celebrate the pilot program. There, Johnson shared his grandmother’s novel way of managing trash that accumulated in the house between weekly collections.
“We used to put the garbage in the freezer because Nana didn't let you put the garbage outside early because all types of things will happen,” he said.
Johnson hopes the twice-weekly collection in his South Philadelphia district will eliminate the need for that kind of creativity without generating the trash bags that get dumped illegally on street corners and empty lots, often tearing and scattering debris that can leave neighborhoods looking and feeling run down. It's a major element of Mayor Cherelle Parker’s “Safer, Cleaner, Greener” initiative.
State Representative Jordan Harris, whose district is in one of the pilot areas, says it's the right priority.
“You want businesses to come to the city? Make it cleaner. You want crime to go down? There is data that shows: Make it cleaner. You want people to feel invested in the city they live in? Make it cleaner,” Harris said.
Here are the areas included in the program
The pilot shows how far the city has come since the COVID-19 pandemic when trash collection was often weeks behind due to severe staff shortages. Sanitation is now its own department, 85% staffed with 99% on-time pickup.
Officials say they picked the two smallest areas of the city for the pilot program but plan to make the twice-weekly pickups citywide as soon as they have enough equipment, though that could take a year or more.