By Olivia-Anne Eisner
After the sanitation trucks rumble down South Philadelphia streets, they usually leave behind a trail of crushed water bottles, debris tattered cardboard boxes, paper products, empty ripped chip bags, broken plastic coffee cups, and more.
Frustrated residents are complaining that Mayor Cherelle Parker’s Twice-A-Week trash collection program, part of her “Green and Clean” mandate, is making a mess on their streets.
“It would be nice if the trash collectors actually collected trash instead of letting it fall out of the truck into the street,” said Alyssa Smith of South Philadelphia.
“Sidewalks are still a mess and streets that are wind tunnels are now full of trash. I feel like I’m picking up more trash on trash collection days,” she said.
As part of Parker’s One Philly United City cleaning initiative, parts of Center City and South Philadelphia were the recipients of the pick-ups. These areas were chosen because of their dense and high population and the lack of waste storage. Parker’s One Philly City cleaning initiative began in November 2024.
In the experience of the average Philadelphian, trash day usually leaves streets dirtier. This new initiative means they will now have to pick up after trash trucks twice a week rather than only once.
Cassidy Flynn, a resident of Brewerytown, has had consistent problems with illegal dumping and litter on her block since she moved there in 2021. She and her fiancé have been cleaning up their block as well as the neighboring blocks.
“When I first heard about the twice-a-week trash pickup, I was really excited, but was honestly kind of pissed when I heard where it was going,” said Flynn, “Not saying South Philly doesn’t have a trash problem, but it’s way worse in North Philly.”
Fjc Art, a resident of South Philadelphia, said he’s struggling with the lack of consistency of trash pick-up.
“I’ll put my trash out on the second pick-up day, but it gets left there until it finally gets taken a few days late,” said Art.
At least one private trash clean up service is benefitting from the mess left behind with twice a week trash pick up. Brandon Posuley, CEO of Glitter — Private Litter and Trash Clean-up Service, is one of them.
“The extra day adds an extra opportunity for trash that needs to be picked up,” he said.
According to the Department of Streets and 311 complaints recorded, trash not getting picked up has been one of the program’s largest problems. City Council Member Mark Squilla said the extra trash left on pick up days is something they are working on.
“As this is a new program, there has been some confusion on collection days, especially when there is a holiday. We report the issues we receive to Sanitation so they can address these kinks as they evaluate and refine the program,” said Squilla.
It has not been announced when the twice-a-week trash pickup will be in other parts of the city. Parker said there are plans to expand the program later in the year during a mayoral luncheon.
Philadelphia residents can use this interactive map to see when trash pick up is scheduled in their neighborhood.
While the pilot program has been launched for three months, Philadelphia residents have yet to see how sustainable twice-a-week pickups will be for their neighborhoods.
“I think it’s a huge waste of money,” said Tara Taylor, a Philadelphia resident, “I much rather see street cleaning and have maintained trash cans throughout the city.”
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