Philly to test 'Twice-a-week' trash pickup in multiple neighborhoods

Source: Mark Makela / Getty

As Mayor Cherelle Parker looks to make good on her “Safer. Cleaner. Greener.” initiative, some Philadelphia neighborhoods will now be experimenting with ‘twice-a-week’ trash pickups.

This pilot program — part of Parker’s One Philly, United City Cleaning Initiative — is expecting to launch after the Thanksgiving holiday on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024.

The areas this program will be serving include Callowhill Street in Center City to Pattison Avenue in South Philadelphia and between the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers.

The City of Philadelphia breaks down the problem, the solution and schedule of the twice-a-week pickup.

According to a booklet distributed by the city, Residential illegal dumping has been a huge problem within the city. Residential illegal dumping occurs when household trash is set out at separate locations other than the legal property address and outside the scheduled collection time. The city’s solution is to debut this twice-a-week trash collection in the densely populated communities of Philadelphia.

Source: Mark Makela / Getty

If your regular trash and recycling pickup day is Monday, you will get the second trash day on Thursday. Should your normal trash day be Tuesday, your second day will be Friday.

The schedule is then Wednesday – Saturday, Thursday – Monday, and Friday – Tuesday.

Philadelphia will not schedule trash days on Sunday, and the ‘Twice-a-week’ pickup does not include holiday weeks. The city of Philadelphia also mentioned that these trash pick ups does not include recycling.

“Residents are prohibited from mixing trash and recycling on the 2nd collection and will be fined if material is located in trash that is set out.” according to the city of Philadelphia.

As the city gauges the success of this initiative, more Philadelphia neighborhoods might be included into the second phase of the initiative.

“Phase 2 of the program will expand to more areas in fall 2025,” the city said.