'Filthadelphia': Shutdown Dumps Trash on City Streets
What would Ben Franklin think?
The Founding Father who launched one of America’s first street-sweeping programs in Philadelphia in the late 1750s would see and smell piles of fly-infested, rotting household waste, bottles and cans as the city that he called home struggles to overcome a surge in garbage caused by the pandemic shutdown.
“It’s just the smell of rot,” James Gitto, president of the West Passyunk neighborhood association in South Philadelphia, said.
Gitto said the situation devolved through July into “a total mess,” and he hired a private recycling company to haul away his bottles and cans.
For the City of Brotherly Love, another unfortunate nickname has been “Filthadelphia.”
The city’s 311 complaint line received more than 9,700 calls about trash and recycling in July, compared to 1,873 in February.
Faced with shutdown restrictions, residents are staying home and generating more trash than ever before. There has been about a 30 percent increase in residential trash collections, according to Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams.
“I’ve never seen the amount of tonnage,” Williams said.
Baltimore and Memphis are among the cities facing similar problems. In Boston, some residents have reported rats the size of cats.
People are cleaning out garages and attics while stuck at home, Williams said. And household trash has increased as more people cook at home or order takeout from restaurants that have not yet fully opened.
His department also has had to clean up after protests.
Fewer sanitation workers are available because of the shutdown, which stymies efforts to get an upper hand on the increased trash.
The number of employees varies each week because some crews must quarantine if a member tests positive, Williams said, making it difficult for the department to stay on schedule and for residents to know when their trash will be removed.
“If they say it’s going to be two days late, you can deal with that. But if you don’t know when it’s going to be picked up, you have to put it out so that it’s there when they come, and that’s the problem if it’s left out there for days and days and days,” resident Jacqui Bowman said.
Her trash sat at the curb for nearly three weeks in the summer heat and got drenched by heavy rainstorms before she posted photos on social media and complained to a city council member. It was taken away 24 hours later.
In June, sanitation employees staged a protest calling for safer working conditions, hazard pay and more personal protection equipment. Meanwhile, they continue to work overtime trying to get back on schedule.
The Streets Department suspended recycling collections on Monday and Tuesday this week so crews could focus on trash.
Residents were told to place recyclables out the following week and were encouraged to use six sanitation centers throughout the city to avoid collection delays.
The Streets Department commissioner is hoping the administration can supplement its workforce by hiring new employees in August. He could not say how many would be added.
Williams said the increase in trash was costing the city an extra $2.5 million to $3 million in disposal costs.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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