The city of Philadelphia is launching a $12 million pilot program to make its streets cleaner.
From Monday, sanitation workers will do the same collect trash twice a week in Center City and South Philadelphia. The additional service will be available to residents of the area bounded by Callowhill Street to the north, Pattison Avenue to the south, the Delaware River to the east and the Schuylkill River to the west.
Officials celebrated the program’s launch Monday at a news conference in Point Breeze.
“Cases like South Philadelphia, as you can see, are a densely populated community with very limited storage capacity, so people are unfortunately forced to make the unpopular decision of having to throw the trash somewhere away from their homes and restaurants,” says Carlton Williams, director of the city’s Office of Clean and Green Initiatives “Well, that day is no more.”
The program is an effort by Mayor Cherelle Parker creating a cleaner, greener city. Many residents are hopeful that the initiative will make a difference.
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“I think that seems like a good idea,” said Chris Bennett of South Philadelphia. “I think this will lead to less waste ending up on the streets. There will be less waste coming out of the bins in my apartment building. It will be cleaner. It will be better.”
Some advocates, like Shari Hersh, question why the biweekly trash pickup doesn’t include other parts of the city, such as North Philadelphia. Hersh is co-director of Trash Academy, an organization that advocates for a Philadelphia free of litter and dumping by 2028.
“Have they targeted the neighborhoods that have had the most dumping? Have they targeted the most densely populated neighborhoods that don’t have adequate waste management? That’s my concern,” Hersh said.
Williams said the city doesn’t have enough garbage trucks to cover all of North Philadelphia. Officials are in the process of purchasing dozens of additional trucks and hiring more workers to expand this service to the entire city by fall of next year.
“I’m really glad they’re trying something because I know I would enjoy being out and about if there was less trash everywhere,” said James Fernando of South Philadelphia.
The city is working to make the city cleaner in other ways. Officials are expanding the number of large dumpsters, known as Bigbellys, from 1,500 to 2,500, Williams said.
The biweekly trash collection program aims to address illegal dumping, a growing problem in Philadelphia. The city is adding 100 cameras to catch illegal dumpers in the act, Williams said.
