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Twice-weekly trash pickup is coming to North Philly

The initiative began last year in South Philly and Center City.

Sanitation worker riding on back of truck along Merrick Road, East Falls section of Philadelphia in July, after the summer's D.C. 33 workers strike ended.
Sanitation worker riding on back of truck along Merrick Road, East Falls section of Philadelphia in July, after the summer's D.C. 33 workers strike ended. Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
    by Nate File
    Published 

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 Philadelphia 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 fallen by 15% to 20% and the amount of litter has decreased.

The North Philly phase of the initiative will cover the boundaries of:

  1. Vine Street to Hunting Park Avenue, from Broad Street to the Schuylkill

  2. 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 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 the city’s 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.