Happy holidays, North Philly: Twice-weekly trash pickups are coming to your neighborhood.
The city will institute a second pickup day for North Philadelphia, beginning Jan. 5.
Last year, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker announced a $11.9 million initiative to bring twice-weekly trash collection to Center City and South Philly, as a key piece of her push to make the city clean and green. Now after an additional $7 million investment in trash trucks, the program is ready for North Philly.
“We’re seeing this make a difference,” said Carlton Williams, director of the city’s Office of Clean and Green Initiatives. He said since the initiative began in December 2024, reports of illegal dumping in South Philly and Center City have decreased by 15 to 20%, and the amount of litter has declined.
The North Philly phase of the initiative will cover the boundaries of:
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Vine Street to Hunting Park Avenue, from Broad Street to the Schuylkill
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Vine Street to Glenwood Avenue, from Broad Street to the Delaware River
Just like elsewhere in the city, the second pickup will occur on the third day after an area’s typical pickup day. For example, households that normally have their trash collected on Monday will have their second pickup on Thursday. Households with Tuesday pickups will have their second pickup on Friday, and so forth.
Recycling will not be collected on the second pickup day. That will continue to be done on the original pickup day. And there will be no second collection during weeks of city holidays.
Residents reported some inconsistency with the twice-weekly program in the first few months of its rollout. Williams said he expects there to be a similar learning curve for pickup crews this time around, particularly since the North Philly phase covers a larger area.
Should crews miss a pickup, Williams said they will collect it within 24 hours, but residents should also call 311 to ensure the trash is on their radar.
To minimize the amount of time that trash sits outside, the city requires that households and businesses set their trash and recycling on the curb after 5 p.m. the day before pickup during the fall and winter, and after 7 p.m. in the spring and summer.
It is unclear when the rest of the city could see trucks coming a second time during the week. When the city announced the beginning of the initiative, it said it intended to expand the program to North Philly and West Philly.
Since then, Williams said, the city has determined that the program might not make sense for all of West Philly or other areas of the city, since some of those neighborhoods have driveways or other trash storage that make extra pickups unnecessary. He said other possible expansion areas will be evaluated.