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Philadelphia trash collection is paused over air quality concerns

The duration of the pause on trash pickup and the impacted collection routes remained unclear Thursday morning.

A Philadelphia Streets Department sanitation truck and workers in July 2021. Trash pickup has temporarily been paused due to air quality concerns.
A Philadelphia Streets Department sanitation truck and workers in July 2021. Trash pickup has temporarily been paused due to air quality concerns.Read moreALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer

Philadelphia sanitation workers are being pulled from their Thursday trash collection routes due to ongoing air quality concerns brought by the Canadian wildfires, according to the workers’ union and a City Council member.

”They’re pulling people off the street now,” said Ernest Garrett, president of District Council 33, which represents 10,000 municipal employees including sanitation workers.

Philadelphia is seeing business closures and other service disruptions following the “hazardous” smoke that smothered the city Wednesday — the most unhealthy day for air quality in Philadelphia since 2008. Health officials say the worst may be over, but expect the Canadian fumes to linger into the weekend.

The Streets Department did not immediately return a request for comment. The duration of the pause on trash pickup and the impacted collection routes remained unclear Thursday morning.

City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, whose district includes West Philadelphia, tweeted that the Streets Department had suspended trash collection and road repaving.

“If the air quality improves later today, trash may be collected,” she said.

Garrett applauded the decision to temporarily pull workers off street duty.

”Safety is always the concern,” he said. “This is something that’s unknown … so it’s better to stay on the safe side.”

» READ MORE: Your health questions about Philadelphia’s worst air quality day in a decade, answered