PublicSource

Pittsburghers are increasingly finding themselves stuck with garbage after collection day, 311 data shows.

While the number of service requests to the City of Pittsburgh related to missed collections has been on an upswing over the last decade, a marked shift began after the pandemic. Now these complaints number more than 10,000 each year.

The issue is particularly acute in the West End, South Hills and Greater Hill District neighborhoods, where some residents say missed trash only adds to the pile of litter issues in their area. There’s no single reason for the increasing number of complaints via the 311 help line, according to city officials.

Harold Love, a Highland Park resident, said “it’s inexplicable” why his trash doesn’t get picked up, sometimes for consecutive weeks.

“It’s happened at our house numerous times even including instances when the other four houses on the street were not skipped,” he said in an email.

While a call to 311 usually gets another truck out that same day, he said it’s usually a different crew unable to provide a reason for the initial missed collection.

Pittsburghers submitted about 3,400 service requests related to missed trash collections in 2019. That number has more than tripled since.

Shifting work habits could be a possible reason, according to Molly Onufer, the mayor’s press secretary.
When employers enforced work-from-home protocols to limit the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, the city Bureau of Environmental Services collected more than 96,000 tons of garbage — a total not since reached — and 14,500 tons of single-stream recyclables.

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✍️: Mia Hollie
🎥: .m