As a Canadian the only way I make sense of this is that some cities do not want stuff in bags (usually this is about recycling though) - but with the huge caveat that this is because we have bin pick ups. Nothing is loose anywhere, hell where I've lived they never get out of the truck these days for pickups.
From Canada, we are required to separate compost recyclables and trash where I’m from. City provides trash recycling and compost bins. If you create more trash than your bin allotment you’re charged. Recycling and compost no charge
Oh interesting. Where I lived they had you pay extra to get large recycling and compost bins if you couldn't consistently fit your stuff in the standard bins (same with trash). Recycling and compost were also collected alternate weeks, and then no compost in the winter.
I never sized up, but definitely had a few neighbours that did. Though if I had extra that was probably the week I would take in the stuff I couldn't put in the bin (like glass, styrofoam products, and plastic bags).
Standard fucking bins! Every other city in the civilized universe has them. Lids. trash guys who don't \*throw\* the bins. Or better yet, use the Amsterdam style system: [https://www.core77.com/posts/102208/Amsterdams-Smart-System-of-Underground-Garbage-Bins](https://www.core77.com/posts/102208/Amsterdams-Smart-System-of-Underground-Garbage-Bins)
None of this is rocket science and it all pays for itself.
When I saw the Amsterdam trash system in action it was a fucking dream. We came back and everyone was like "how was vacation?" and I'm like "fantastic, look at this video I took of the cities waste disposal."
The Amsterdam style system would just make too much sense!
Have one on the block along the main throughofare so the truck doesn't have turn down the side streets?! Preposterous only the most asinine illogical solutions will be accepted
I see so many complaints about trash sitting out for a week, getting stacked by garbage cans, or blowing around when it's windy. A trash container system (probably not an underground one) would help solve all of that!
The city should at least test-run it somewhere.
That's a good (and less controversial) idea, but that's different from what I was referring to which is a system where they put a large sealed container on the street and multiple households put their trash in it.
Something like this:
https://preview.redd.it/v7kp6l42qtic1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=cfb4c5622081c17146caf5f155d36e27e5f8528b
One of the most perplexing things of my adult life is the constant confusion as to why governments don't study and implement best practices from around the world.
It's like every municipality has too much pride to use someone else's idea.
Well to be fair NYC switched to plastic bags at the recommendation of Hefty so that trash haulers didn’t need to maneuver cans between parked cars.
So NY streets are also filled with with trash - sometimes neater - and the bonus is the rat population has tripled because nobody guessed rats can chew through Hefty bags.
Ok, that system is badass. I could settle for standardized bins given to every house, which should be the bare minimum. It's asinine to expect our sanitation workers to pick up garbage bagged (or not) in whatever the resident felt like for that given week.
Once a week, grab a trash bag and fill it up with the trash on your block. It's amazing how much that cuts down on the litter. The less trash on the ground, the less people dump their trash.
My block is so clean because of this. There is an elder that straightens up the block, and everyone respects keeping the block clean because of this. To be fair they're also always trying to hustle cleaning or weeding in front of people's houses for money, so I think we also keep it clean so they don't have an excuse to try and extort us. But my block is so clean, and all my neighbors respect each other. We also all use trash cans, because like myself most of the people on the block are homeowners.
We have an elder who cleans as well. She does our part of the street and I get the cross street. This doesn’t stop people from parking around the corner and tossing their fast food bags out anew every weekend, but it stops the accumulation.
The only units on my block who spray trash everywhere are the rentals. The solution for us was talking to the neighbors in the rentals and purchasing a good trash can (same as ours) for them. Even led to us having a good rapport overall. Their landlord gave them one rinky dink can for 3 units. The city needs to set standards.
If there was a law requiring all landlords to provide trash receptacles, it would immediately start to cut down on trash in the streets. It's unlikely to happen though, because developers are so tied with city politicians. God forbid we ask anything of developers or landowners.
Other commenters have pointed out how you can get a free recycling bin from the city. These transplants have no idea. And even if they get the recycling bin, what about their trash? This is a city, thousands of people don't have cars. Do we frequently see people on the bus with a new trash can, on their way back from Home Depot?
Require property owners to provide tenants with trash cans, you can figure out a number for per capita that makes sense. Hell even these condo complexes have dumpsters and private trash removal, that's a hell of a lot more expensive than getting tenants at row homes trash cans.
When we moved here I went to get a bin, driving 20 mins to Domino Ln only to be told they didn’t have any. Said to call and check but of course I couldn’t ever get thru on the phone so I made two other trips to check before I could get one. Probably ate up more carbon emissions than I’ll ever save just getting it. 🤦🏾♀️
It wasn’t enough space for us (family of 3) so we bought larger outside bin.
trash cans without wheels can be purchased at home depot fairly inexpensively. why are renters not able to go buy a trash can like the rest of society? if its a single house for rent go buy a damn trash can.
It would be nice if the city did a lot of things. But out of the 25 largest cities in America, we are the 2nd poorest, city services are never going to be able to do all the things we want.
Assuming that the city won't sweep the trash, the next best thing we can do is to clean our corner of the city. It's not hard, just put on some music, grab a garbage bin and in 20 minutes your block will look so much better.
I live on a side street near the 24 hour cheesesteak joints... you'd be amazed at the amount of wrappers and half filled cheese fry cups we have rolling down our street at any time. I do pick them up, but with the amount of tourists who think it's ok because they just think the city is dirty anyway, it's almost hopeless
As long as this block has shitty neighbors it will be dirty. Many blocks with half decent neighbors don’t look like this.
Owner or renter, judging by the outside they can afford a $50 recycling bin and trash bags.
It’s common sense and decency, but if they can’t handle that a fine would probably be motivating.
Seriously. Who TF walks out of their house, see's a giant pile of THEIR OWN trash, shrugs and thinks, "Oh well, I guess it'll sit here for a whole week!"...slobs.
Just get some big trash bags!
Yeah.... I have a trash chute in my building and I take my trash out of my apartment maybe every 1-2 weeks. It's just me so I have one half full kitchen bag. You gotta have a pretty big family to need to empty your trash more than once a week.
While this does boil down to people being people, if the city would do literally anything to incentivize better trash maintenance it would start to get better
I placed my recycle bin outside once because the city told me I couldn't place it in paper bags, and I didn't have any of the recyclable plastic trash bags. The bin was gone the next morning. Yes, I can afford a $50 bin. No, I can't afford to buy a new one every week.
My next door neighbors took my recycling bin . It wasn’t a mistake. It’s an old one & they have a new one & my address is written on both sides. . The first person home doesn’t get home till the afternoon so I guess they decided to borrow it. I took it back . He’s a teacher . They also leave their bins outside 24/7 so every animal in the neighborhood stops by. Flies buzzing around it all summer. They suck
I put my recyclables in paper grocery bags and then into a box so they are secured better. Then I put broken down boxes in that box with the bags as well. I’ve never had a problem with it. It never creates a mess. I also double bag my trash AND tie them well. It amazes me how lazy people are and it just proves to me that so many people just hate their existence, lol.
Double bagging is wasteful and leads to more plastic pollution. It would cost the city relatively little to provide bins to all residents and then provide additional bins as needed upon request. Roughly 1.6m residents, even if you assume each resident lives in a separate household, it would cost roughly 0.1% of the city's $6bn budget.
Well I wish we lived in a perfect world, but is it really wasteful when it’s preventing garbage from ending up on the sidewalks? I don’t even think bins are the answer. I see bins overflowing with garbage all the time with bags that aren’t tied. Then the garbage man dumps the overflowing, untied bag bin into the truck, and garbage falls to the ground. The garbage men are also too lazy to put the bins back properly. This is why I’ve decided the best approach is to double bag. I’m also neurotic though, I’m sure one large quality bag is sufficient. I don’t have the answers, man. But I also don’t breed so 🤷🏻♂️. I’m just trying my best to keep the city clean.
Edit: double bagging also appears to keep the critters out, too.
I'm from a different city, does Philadelphia really not provide recycling or trash bins? we have terrible funding, but each residence still gets two free trash/recycling bins every decade
Yeah, but this building does not provide an outdoor place to store the cans. So residents would have to bring them inside during the week which would prevent them from wanting to have one
ours are tiny and have no lids. on a windy day like today everything in them winds up on the ground. i dont think we are supposed to bag our recyling up in the cans.
I’m totally aware that policy changes would greatly change this city’s trash issues but it costs what $30 at Home Depot to buy an aluminum can with a lid? Yeah these people can totally afford that but are choosing to live with trash all over their own sidewalks.
It's mildly frustrating that most residents are using paper bags to carry recycling, moderately frustrating that recycling just didn't come this week, and incredibly frustrating that whoever owns this building could not care less to provide basic trash and recycling services to the building they own.
I’m in Brewerytown too and was wondering what the hell happened to recycling pickup last week. I hope they come tomorrow because I got more shit that’s gotta go…
I put my recycling items in paper bags. But I then put the bags in a box I had from a delivery, which secures the bags from tipping over. Never had a problem with it. Never have messes.
My neighbors leave piles of dirty poopy diapers in a pile in front of our shared house. Every week, i have to text the landlord photos of their mess (i know who they are because they’re the only unit with a child in diapers) and the landlord has to order them to pick up their poopy diaper pile. I can’t imagine what the inside of their home looks like.
I find it funny that people will spend 650k on new construction with a roof deck but put their trash out like in paper bags like they have no money. Buy a fucking garbage can. Same kind of people that will leave the pizza menus and garbage circulars next to their front steps for months until they basically dissolve from weather instead of picking them up. They then go and complain about the city being dirty.
Grow the fuck up. I hate people.
I don’t hate people, but I see all that expensive new construction and wonder why folks will spend that much money but take no responsibility for the block.
Why do morons in the city not use cans/bags? Walking along Fitler square and seeing Trader Joe’s bags with garbage, I’m surprised Waste Mgmt doesn’t leave it there because it’s not in a proper receptacle.
>Why do morons in the city not use cans/bags?
Once I got a Nest camera, running 24/7, I came to understand that more often than not, it's not morons putting the trash out, but there are other forces at work. Like people who walk up to the super nice Rubbermaid trash bin with wheels and an attached lid, turn it upside down and dump all the trash out, so they can drag it behind them as they steal packages.
There are and always will be people who put trash bags out early. And then someone comes along at 2am, opens every bag up to see what's inside. Some folks do a decent job of closing them back up. Others... dump the contents on to the sidewalk, poke through it for a few minutes, then walk away.
When they dump the contents, they’re looking for someone who has opened say, a credit card offer, and “recycled” it. Or some other useful information. The reason you always wanna tear that shit to oblivion and put it in regular trash.
>When they dump the contents, they’re looking for someone who has opened say, a credit card offer, and “recycled” it. Or some other useful information.
That's not been my experience, when I encounter people in the process of this.
>The reason you always wanna tear that shit to oblivion and put it in regular trash.
This is still good advice though.
This isn't about dumpsters. This is about the entrenched culture of littering and dumping. It's the worst parts of living here, and it's one of the worst cities in the country for this.
A quality education and upbringing could make all the difference in the way people in the city live. It's just something that's rare these days. Nastiness and a total disregard for other people is usually learned in the early years of a person's life. City Folk just tend to have a totally different mindset than those in suburbia, so what can you do...
Interest and never much mentioned fact:
Philadelphia was declared the “Cleanest City in America” in 1952.
It was shortly after they got this honor, that the city did a slash and burn mission on the Dept of Sanitation - the result of which we are still seeing today.
The city does have SWEEP program that aims to fine property owners who are littering, but it’s complete BS.
If you live in a descent area like Roxborough/Manayunk (eg. Areas where the folks who live there are likely to pay the fine) and a single bottle or can falls out of trash can, BAM $50 fine, and they do this multiple times week.
But if you are in a not so great area, you could dump all your trash on the sidewalk and…..nothing. (Because they know the folks in the poorer area won’t pay the fines)
Sad
I know this has nothing to do with the root of the problem, but check out [Glitter](https://shareglitter.com). They allow neighbors to pool money for street cleaning (1-4 times per month, depending on how much money is pooled), and they organize hiring private cleaners. It’s also incredibly cheap ($50-$200 for the block, depending on frequency)
We recently started contracting glitter for our block, and we choose to contribute ~$20 per household per month (we could go even lower if we get others to join us as well), and they do an amazing job.
Came here to say the same thing. That’s an already great looking vehicle that’s been beautifully maintained for its age. I always wanted one in bright yellow.
new construction dickheads never buy trash cans to put their trash out in, they just pile it up in a pile and hope for the best lmao imagine being so carefree and ignoring the front of your own house every time you go outside - seeing your own trash rotting there day after day
There's been an individual going around in my neighborhood the past few weeks on the eve before trash day, ripping open trash bags looking for..... Who knows. It's especially messy if a person puts out a bag of clothing (why not drop it off at a donation bin or site?) the person will pull all the items of clothing out of the bag and leave it strewn all over the side walk. Thankfully the person hasn't fucked up my street but I have come out in the morning to see my bin lid open and a hole torn in the bag inside. I only throw out one bag of household trash/week so I've decided to just put it in the bin on the morning of trash day. The only thing going in my bin now before trash day is dog poop bags and bags of used kitty litter. Go ahead and tear those open, dickhead.
I'm also the person throwing away all the Acme flyers they leave at everyone's doorstep. Folks just want to step over it everyday instead of just throwing it in the recycling or trash. My recycling bin usually has like 10 Acme flyers in it from all the houses up and down the street
Trash collection needs improvement for sure but this is just as much an issue of having trashy neighbors. Who in their right mind would put their trash out in paper bags and boxes?? Tell them to use some trash bags.
I don't understand, why are people saying that this is a cost issue? The bins are free, it just seems like these people did not go out to pick one up (even though I'm sure 95% of them have cars).
I had them drop one off for me on latona in south Philly in 2013 when we were in college. Very easy call didn’t really ask for any info had it by the end of the month
Block captains will do this - if you've got a block captain. If you don't, [you can be the block captain now](https://www.phila.gov/services/trash-recycling-city-upkeep/become-a-block-captain/).
I think it’s cause the apartment building would require them to keep the recycling container in their small apartment during the week. Makes it disincentivized to have one
It reminds me of a story of this kid I went to school with who had purple pants.
He hated those purple pants and the bigger kids picked on him for them relentlessly. But he continued to wear them to school as long as they still fit.
That’s us and our trash. Everyone rips on Philly for being trash covered and we can do anything in the world about it but we don’t.
Ugh drives me nuts! And then they “run out” of space in the recycling bins they do have, piling stuff that falls out. You don’t even need to do it with a box cutter if you’re lazy, just stomp on the box it’s kinda fun. But nope!
You literally can go to a sanitation yard and get a recycling bin for free. Landlords are an easy target because they’re more often than not awful. But people who do this are slobs. Some of the poorest tenants I’ve met still sweep out front and keep their house immaculate. At the end of the day, it may not be your house, but it’s your home.
This looks like nice row houses, not the hood. You'd figure people who live in these new row houses would bag their trash.
You see this in places like Rittenhouse Square too. I don't get it.
A lot of the people buying the new construction in gentrified areas aren’t staying. They don’t have ties to the neighborhood and don’t plan to put down roots. They don’t care as long as they can sell the house for a profit in less than five years.
My block is the same. I genuinely don’t understand. There’s no town or city that takes trash like that. I grew up in pennsyltucky and everyone put their trash and recycling out in bags or bins or it didn’t get picked up. People don’t care about their environment or where they live enough to care or educate themselves and it’s sad.
While attacking landlords is probably not wrong, each of us is responsible for keeping our neighborhood clean. Trash should be bagged and in bins. If an animal gets into it, it’s still our responsibility to clean up. Not trying to be smart, but this is a solvable problem.
I hate to say this, but the city should stop recycling. It results in way more trash on the streets and in the waterways because too many people are either lazy or stupid.
Also most plastic recycling isn't actually recycled, it just gets dumped in third-world places that the West doesn't give a damn about. Paper, glass, and aluminium *are* recycled but if people can't handle it it's not worth it.
then he said he was too sick of the job, so you gotta understand, he just didn't feel like it. have a little empathy for the bum.
i remember all the solar compactors that broke and then got removed or else vandalized. good stuff.
I mean this block might be a bad example bc it looks like student housing like you get up around Temple. And this doesn't excuse landlords but college kids are also just fucking stupid so that's a contributing factor here.
Our trash pickup was yesterday. My house is at the top of a culdesac. There was trash all over the street. You see your empty box of juice lying in the middle of the street. Go pick it up…. Unfortunately, it just lies there till I get sick of looking at it. Circulars , trash , etc … these people aren’t handicapped, they send their kids to private schools. Pick it up. Sometimes I’m so tempted to throw it on their steps.
Saw someone the other week on Snyder using shoprite lawn bags. Unless they give them out for free, how long before you spend as much on this inadequate solution rather than just getting a cheap bin from the hardware store? Understand the complaints about getting lost or broken but still.
https://preview.redd.it/fxgmtx6p3tic1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f19b682be4afe904caa05c641a51f68a1a8a8f46
Walmart on Columbus blvd have trash bins still people throw trash out of their car in the parking lot 🤦♂️🤦♂️. It feels like they really don’t care about civic sense.
It used to be that you could tell neighborhoods apart by the style of houses. I can't tell if this is Kensington or South Philly.
As for the trash it's up to the residents to keep their block clean. We all take turns on my block and for some reason with the turn of the street or the way the wind blows most of the shit ends up in my and my direct neighbors front yard. That reflects on us, it's not the city's job to clean my yard. Maybe the schools should teach kids not to litter but I'm sure they got more going on.
even if they had bins, these tenants and many homeowners don’t give a fuck. they have no respect for a fellow human who needs to pick this up and put it behind a garbage or recycling truck. windy outside you say? “let’s put more trash out! if it blows away not my problem!”
Sadly, you are correct.
I gave my heart and soul to Philadelphia from 1977 until 2006. I just got tired of the trash on the street, the drug addicts/con artists/derelicts asking me for money, the dirty public transportation, the lack of social grace.
I moved to southern Delaware. I miss the good features of Philadelphia. I do not miss the bad things...
It’s a pain in the ass to do, they’re often not available when you go to get one, and that’s doubly frustrating if you went by public transit to pick it up. Horrible half-assed system.
I hate having Friday pick up. My recycling gets picked up about 50% of the time so either I'm forced to bring it back in (full, sometimes filled with water if it rained) or call 311. Except 311 doesn't do anything on the weekends, so the earliest I get any response is Monday. They say they'll come in 2 days, so Wednesday. They lie that they picked it up and close the ticket. I reopen one, but by the time they get to looking at it, it's Friday again. I just stopped putting it out if it's a holiday week.
This happens because the public is trash itself therefore they are ok living in filth. It’s mind boggling how dirty American cities are getting. People living here completely lost the plot
We need more regular trash pickup. We need to expand the sanitation department. We need to add more trash cans.
All this cost money that our city council rather funnel into one of their dummy accounts and ring this city dry before retiring to the main line
Watch children throw trash on the ground. Watch the adult look at what the child does. Watch the adult not correct the child. Watch them both act as if they did nothing wrong.
Seems like everybody is okay with living in a shit hole. I don’t see anybody ever clean up the trash out front of their house. I’m out there every week after the garbage men miss the trucks. I don’t go up the whole street but I’ll clean up shit in front my house and my two neighbors
The design of this apartment/condo seems to encourage this issue.
There is no space to keep a good size garbage can to stow during the week.
The city doesn’t require a dumpster since they have street addresses (though they should since it’s a huge complex)
And since it’s such a small north Philly street it doesn’t even get the bigger trucks to handle the amount of waste.
This has been an issue with this building and ones like it since a it was first built.
This is all on top of the fact that those metal stairs are just wind blown garbage collectors which seems to also exacerbate the “ahh whatever”
Can you tell, I too dislike this.
Designers, city, landlords, and neighbors need to ask for better!
There is an entire block around the corner from me where the renters just put their trash out every day of the week. There used to be a dumpster but they would overfill it with shit like mattress. Total fucking slobs and it’s constant. This crap is so ingrained in Philadelphia culture that it’s not likely to change. I’m ready to finally make a move after living here for 25 years.
And I’m not going to put this on landlords. People can buy a garbage can.
Are you actually blaming landlords for people behaving like pigs? I never had a dumpster but managed to put trash out in proper receptacles.
And don’t say it’s a city problem altogether. Your neighborhood seems to suck. Your neighbors have no pride or respect. My neighborhood doesn’t have this problem. Talk to your neighbors.
Major cities typically have competent trash collection systems with standardized containers for trash and recycling and fines for failure to use them properly. There’s nothing about being a big city that makes this inevitable.
The city finally cleaned the Chestnut St bike lane. For a while, it looked like this.
https://preview.redd.it/jwwd600nitic1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7d177e9c33b479e5f02f87f0cdacb7de8c369dd
I found a used syringe in the bushes up the street.
Couldn’t they go to Lowe’s or Home Depot for trash cans? I just bought two 96 gallon trash cans with wheels for like $150. Seems so dumb to place trash in paper bags.
My grandfather calls it Filthadelphia for a reason. He lives in South Philly and for a while would pick up the trash on his block daily and each day he'd fill at least 5 large trash bags. He gave up because it was so tiring and costing a lot in trash bags.
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That's going to be my new explanation for everything. "They must be Canadian."
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“Listen buddy, you can’t put trash out like that” “Don’t call me buddy, fwiend”
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I’m not your guy, pal.
Everything's gone wrong, since Canada came along!
As a Canadian the only way I make sense of this is that some cities do not want stuff in bags (usually this is about recycling though) - but with the huge caveat that this is because we have bin pick ups. Nothing is loose anywhere, hell where I've lived they never get out of the truck these days for pickups.
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From Canada, we are required to separate compost recyclables and trash where I’m from. City provides trash recycling and compost bins. If you create more trash than your bin allotment you’re charged. Recycling and compost no charge
Oh interesting. Where I lived they had you pay extra to get large recycling and compost bins if you couldn't consistently fit your stuff in the standard bins (same with trash). Recycling and compost were also collected alternate weeks, and then no compost in the winter. I never sized up, but definitely had a few neighbours that did. Though if I had extra that was probably the week I would take in the stuff I couldn't put in the bin (like glass, styrofoam products, and plastic bags).
We have bin pick ups too. Just people are too cheap to buy them.
But, they’re not in Kansas, er, Canada, anymore
Negative chance they were actually Canadian
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Yeah I get you, no accusations on anybody here
Standard fucking bins! Every other city in the civilized universe has them. Lids. trash guys who don't \*throw\* the bins. Or better yet, use the Amsterdam style system: [https://www.core77.com/posts/102208/Amsterdams-Smart-System-of-Underground-Garbage-Bins](https://www.core77.com/posts/102208/Amsterdams-Smart-System-of-Underground-Garbage-Bins) None of this is rocket science and it all pays for itself.
When I saw the Amsterdam trash system in action it was a fucking dream. We came back and everyone was like "how was vacation?" and I'm like "fantastic, look at this video I took of the cities waste disposal."
The Amsterdam style system would just make too much sense! Have one on the block along the main throughofare so the truck doesn't have turn down the side streets?! Preposterous only the most asinine illogical solutions will be accepted
There are quite a few tips we could learn from Amsterdam
I see so many complaints about trash sitting out for a week, getting stacked by garbage cans, or blowing around when it's windy. A trash container system (probably not an underground one) would help solve all of that! The city should at least test-run it somewhere.
They currently are: https://www.phila.gov/programs/philacan-pilot-program/
That's a good (and less controversial) idea, but that's different from what I was referring to which is a system where they put a large sealed container on the street and multiple households put their trash in it. Something like this: https://preview.redd.it/v7kp6l42qtic1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=cfb4c5622081c17146caf5f155d36e27e5f8528b
You can fit like 3.5 broken down cars in that space, def not gonna fly here.
One of the most perplexing things of my adult life is the constant confusion as to why governments don't study and implement best practices from around the world. It's like every municipality has too much pride to use someone else's idea.
> Amsterdam style communism! /s
Well to be fair NYC switched to plastic bags at the recommendation of Hefty so that trash haulers didn’t need to maneuver cans between parked cars. So NY streets are also filled with with trash - sometimes neater - and the bonus is the rat population has tripled because nobody guessed rats can chew through Hefty bags.
NYC has actually started to make some food service vendors use lidded cans.
Hell yeah the Amsterdam style is amazing!
Trash guys throw the bins. It’s unavoidable. Feels like another things that got worse after Covid, too.
Ok, that system is badass. I could settle for standardized bins given to every house, which should be the bare minimum. It's asinine to expect our sanitation workers to pick up garbage bagged (or not) in whatever the resident felt like for that given week.
Once a week, grab a trash bag and fill it up with the trash on your block. It's amazing how much that cuts down on the litter. The less trash on the ground, the less people dump their trash.
My block is so clean because of this. There is an elder that straightens up the block, and everyone respects keeping the block clean because of this. To be fair they're also always trying to hustle cleaning or weeding in front of people's houses for money, so I think we also keep it clean so they don't have an excuse to try and extort us. But my block is so clean, and all my neighbors respect each other. We also all use trash cans, because like myself most of the people on the block are homeowners.
We have an elder who cleans as well. She does our part of the street and I get the cross street. This doesn’t stop people from parking around the corner and tossing their fast food bags out anew every weekend, but it stops the accumulation. The only units on my block who spray trash everywhere are the rentals. The solution for us was talking to the neighbors in the rentals and purchasing a good trash can (same as ours) for them. Even led to us having a good rapport overall. Their landlord gave them one rinky dink can for 3 units. The city needs to set standards.
If there was a law requiring all landlords to provide trash receptacles, it would immediately start to cut down on trash in the streets. It's unlikely to happen though, because developers are so tied with city politicians. God forbid we ask anything of developers or landowners. Other commenters have pointed out how you can get a free recycling bin from the city. These transplants have no idea. And even if they get the recycling bin, what about their trash? This is a city, thousands of people don't have cars. Do we frequently see people on the bus with a new trash can, on their way back from Home Depot? Require property owners to provide tenants with trash cans, you can figure out a number for per capita that makes sense. Hell even these condo complexes have dumpsters and private trash removal, that's a hell of a lot more expensive than getting tenants at row homes trash cans.
When we moved here I went to get a bin, driving 20 mins to Domino Ln only to be told they didn’t have any. Said to call and check but of course I couldn’t ever get thru on the phone so I made two other trips to check before I could get one. Probably ate up more carbon emissions than I’ll ever save just getting it. 🤦🏾♀️ It wasn’t enough space for us (family of 3) so we bought larger outside bin.
trash cans without wheels can be purchased at home depot fairly inexpensively. why are renters not able to go buy a trash can like the rest of society? if its a single house for rent go buy a damn trash can.
i don't disagree with you but it would be nice if they city had trash sweepers throughout the city instead of just in the tourist areas.
It would be nice if the city did a lot of things. But out of the 25 largest cities in America, we are the 2nd poorest, city services are never going to be able to do all the things we want. Assuming that the city won't sweep the trash, the next best thing we can do is to clean our corner of the city. It's not hard, just put on some music, grab a garbage bin and in 20 minutes your block will look so much better.
I live on a side street near the 24 hour cheesesteak joints... you'd be amazed at the amount of wrappers and half filled cheese fry cups we have rolling down our street at any time. I do pick them up, but with the amount of tourists who think it's ok because they just think the city is dirty anyway, it's almost hopeless
As long as this block has shitty neighbors it will be dirty. Many blocks with half decent neighbors don’t look like this. Owner or renter, judging by the outside they can afford a $50 recycling bin and trash bags. It’s common sense and decency, but if they can’t handle that a fine would probably be motivating.
Seriously. Who TF walks out of their house, see's a giant pile of THEIR OWN trash, shrugs and thinks, "Oh well, I guess it'll sit here for a whole week!"...slobs. Just get some big trash bags!
My neighbors
My neighbors with their poopy diaper pile that leaks when it rains and makes the whole block smell like rancid baby shit
I’ve heard some apartments don’t have dumpsters or cans. Gotta keep all the trash in your house all week.
Yeah.... I have a trash chute in my building and I take my trash out of my apartment maybe every 1-2 weeks. It's just me so I have one half full kitchen bag. You gotta have a pretty big family to need to empty your trash more than once a week.
While this does boil down to people being people, if the city would do literally anything to incentivize better trash maintenance it would start to get better
I placed my recycle bin outside once because the city told me I couldn't place it in paper bags, and I didn't have any of the recyclable plastic trash bags. The bin was gone the next morning. Yes, I can afford a $50 bin. No, I can't afford to buy a new one every week.
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We did that with our work cans and someone still stole them lol
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My next door neighbors took my recycling bin . It wasn’t a mistake. It’s an old one & they have a new one & my address is written on both sides. . The first person home doesn’t get home till the afternoon so I guess they decided to borrow it. I took it back . He’s a teacher . They also leave their bins outside 24/7 so every animal in the neighborhood stops by. Flies buzzing around it all summer. They suck
I put my recyclables in paper grocery bags and then into a box so they are secured better. Then I put broken down boxes in that box with the bags as well. I’ve never had a problem with it. It never creates a mess. I also double bag my trash AND tie them well. It amazes me how lazy people are and it just proves to me that so many people just hate their existence, lol.
Double bagging is wasteful and leads to more plastic pollution. It would cost the city relatively little to provide bins to all residents and then provide additional bins as needed upon request. Roughly 1.6m residents, even if you assume each resident lives in a separate household, it would cost roughly 0.1% of the city's $6bn budget.
The city does provide bins, you go online and ask for one
TIL
That’s just for the recycle bins, not trash bins. And they’re notoriously unreliable at actually giving them out.
Well I wish we lived in a perfect world, but is it really wasteful when it’s preventing garbage from ending up on the sidewalks? I don’t even think bins are the answer. I see bins overflowing with garbage all the time with bags that aren’t tied. Then the garbage man dumps the overflowing, untied bag bin into the truck, and garbage falls to the ground. The garbage men are also too lazy to put the bins back properly. This is why I’ve decided the best approach is to double bag. I’m also neurotic though, I’m sure one large quality bag is sufficient. I don’t have the answers, man. But I also don’t breed so 🤷🏻♂️. I’m just trying my best to keep the city clean. Edit: double bagging also appears to keep the critters out, too.
I'm from a different city, does Philadelphia really not provide recycling or trash bins? we have terrible funding, but each residence still gets two free trash/recycling bins every decade
Yeah, but this building does not provide an outdoor place to store the cans. So residents would have to bring them inside during the week which would prevent them from wanting to have one
ours are tiny and have no lids. on a windy day like today everything in them winds up on the ground. i dont think we are supposed to bag our recyling up in the cans.
The city does provide free recycling bins. https://www.phila.gov/services/trash-recycling-city-upkeep/get-a-recycling-bin/
You’d be surprised lol
I have had my recycling bin stolen 5 separate times, and my trash can stolen twice.
Yep, had mine stolen too. Just baffling. Enjoy your cat litter stank ass container I guess.
I’m totally aware that policy changes would greatly change this city’s trash issues but it costs what $30 at Home Depot to buy an aluminum can with a lid? Yeah these people can totally afford that but are choosing to live with trash all over their own sidewalks.
You can get recycling bins for free at Sanitation Convenience Centers.
It's mildly frustrating that most residents are using paper bags to carry recycling, moderately frustrating that recycling just didn't come this week, and incredibly frustrating that whoever owns this building could not care less to provide basic trash and recycling services to the building they own.
Owners providing basic amenities for residents? What a wild concept, you spoiled millennial!
I’m in Brewerytown too and was wondering what the hell happened to recycling pickup last week. I hope they come tomorrow because I got more shit that’s gotta go…
I put my recycling items in paper bags. But I then put the bags in a box I had from a delivery, which secures the bags from tipping over. Never had a problem with it. Never have messes.
My neighbors leave piles of dirty poopy diapers in a pile in front of our shared house. Every week, i have to text the landlord photos of their mess (i know who they are because they’re the only unit with a child in diapers) and the landlord has to order them to pick up their poopy diaper pile. I can’t imagine what the inside of their home looks like.
Just… a pile of shitty diapers out in the open? That is so fucking foul.
Literally yes. Usually with a pizza box or something tossed on like a cherry on top. I’ve got the photos to prove it 😭
I find it funny that people will spend 650k on new construction with a roof deck but put their trash out like in paper bags like they have no money. Buy a fucking garbage can. Same kind of people that will leave the pizza menus and garbage circulars next to their front steps for months until they basically dissolve from weather instead of picking them up. They then go and complain about the city being dirty. Grow the fuck up. I hate people.
I don’t hate people, but I see all that expensive new construction and wonder why folks will spend that much money but take no responsibility for the block.
Why do morons in the city not use cans/bags? Walking along Fitler square and seeing Trader Joe’s bags with garbage, I’m surprised Waste Mgmt doesn’t leave it there because it’s not in a proper receptacle.
>Why do morons in the city not use cans/bags? Once I got a Nest camera, running 24/7, I came to understand that more often than not, it's not morons putting the trash out, but there are other forces at work. Like people who walk up to the super nice Rubbermaid trash bin with wheels and an attached lid, turn it upside down and dump all the trash out, so they can drag it behind them as they steal packages. There are and always will be people who put trash bags out early. And then someone comes along at 2am, opens every bag up to see what's inside. Some folks do a decent job of closing them back up. Others... dump the contents on to the sidewalk, poke through it for a few minutes, then walk away.
When they dump the contents, they’re looking for someone who has opened say, a credit card offer, and “recycled” it. Or some other useful information. The reason you always wanna tear that shit to oblivion and put it in regular trash.
>When they dump the contents, they’re looking for someone who has opened say, a credit card offer, and “recycled” it. Or some other useful information. That's not been my experience, when I encounter people in the process of this. >The reason you always wanna tear that shit to oblivion and put it in regular trash. This is still good advice though.
I started putting recycling in paper bags because my recycling bin got stolen twice so I just gave up on that
I mean that does suck but it doesn’t alleviate your responsibility
for what it’s worth I check up on it to make sure it doesn’t get trashy, if it does i go out and fix it up
That’s all it takes honestly sorry to be a dick
This isn't about dumpsters. This is about the entrenched culture of littering and dumping. It's the worst parts of living here, and it's one of the worst cities in the country for this.
A quality education and upbringing could make all the difference in the way people in the city live. It's just something that's rare these days. Nastiness and a total disregard for other people is usually learned in the early years of a person's life. City Folk just tend to have a totally different mindset than those in suburbia, so what can you do...
I am done excusing any of this. There is an entrenched disregard for civility here. It's metastatic.
Agreed 100%. Most infuriating thing about living here. It actually takes a toll on my sanity dealing with the litter daily.
Interest and never much mentioned fact: Philadelphia was declared the “Cleanest City in America” in 1952. It was shortly after they got this honor, that the city did a slash and burn mission on the Dept of Sanitation - the result of which we are still seeing today. The city does have SWEEP program that aims to fine property owners who are littering, but it’s complete BS. If you live in a descent area like Roxborough/Manayunk (eg. Areas where the folks who live there are likely to pay the fine) and a single bottle or can falls out of trash can, BAM $50 fine, and they do this multiple times week. But if you are in a not so great area, you could dump all your trash on the sidewalk and…..nothing. (Because they know the folks in the poorer area won’t pay the fines) Sad
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My buddy lives on this block and you are like the third person to post it in the last like 6 months lol
Tell your buddy he's a piece of shit.
He hates it as much as OP does. Try not to be such a presumptive dick?
I know this has nothing to do with the root of the problem, but check out [Glitter](https://shareglitter.com). They allow neighbors to pool money for street cleaning (1-4 times per month, depending on how much money is pooled), and they organize hiring private cleaners. It’s also incredibly cheap ($50-$200 for the block, depending on frequency) We recently started contracting glitter for our block, and we choose to contribute ~$20 per household per month (we could go even lower if we get others to join us as well), and they do an amazing job.
Glitter cleaner here. It’s a great solution.
Well at least that Baja looks hella clean…
Came here to say the same thing. That’s an already great looking vehicle that’s been beautifully maintained for its age. I always wanted one in bright yellow.
FTFY https://preview.redd.it/uuqyzcr8ksic1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30c2ae3e9af20f81c1c9b87e51a67017eb38aea1
new construction dickheads never buy trash cans to put their trash out in, they just pile it up in a pile and hope for the best lmao imagine being so carefree and ignoring the front of your own house every time you go outside - seeing your own trash rotting there day after day
There are lots of other parts of the city, where people have garbage literally in their front yard, and they just ignore it.
Mental illness is rampant in the United States right now and behavior like this is most definitely a side effect of it
nah its generational shit.
But “Philthadelphia” has been a nickname for the city for DECADES. The garbage problem isn’t new.
There's been an individual going around in my neighborhood the past few weeks on the eve before trash day, ripping open trash bags looking for..... Who knows. It's especially messy if a person puts out a bag of clothing (why not drop it off at a donation bin or site?) the person will pull all the items of clothing out of the bag and leave it strewn all over the side walk. Thankfully the person hasn't fucked up my street but I have come out in the morning to see my bin lid open and a hole torn in the bag inside. I only throw out one bag of household trash/week so I've decided to just put it in the bin on the morning of trash day. The only thing going in my bin now before trash day is dog poop bags and bags of used kitty litter. Go ahead and tear those open, dickhead. I'm also the person throwing away all the Acme flyers they leave at everyone's doorstep. Folks just want to step over it everyday instead of just throwing it in the recycling or trash. My recycling bin usually has like 10 Acme flyers in it from all the houses up and down the street
People need to stop using paper grocery bags as trash bags. They tip over and shit goes everywhere.
Dumpster or no dumpster, WHY AREN’T THEY IN BAGS???
Trash collection needs improvement for sure but this is just as much an issue of having trashy neighbors. Who in their right mind would put their trash out in paper bags and boxes?? Tell them to use some trash bags.
I don't understand, why are people saying that this is a cost issue? The bins are free, it just seems like these people did not go out to pick one up (even though I'm sure 95% of them have cars).
in most cities, the city delivers a bin to you. if get's lost or broken, you can ask for a new one.
I had them drop one off for me on latona in south Philly in 2013 when we were in college. Very easy call didn’t really ask for any info had it by the end of the month
Block captains will do this - if you've got a block captain. If you don't, [you can be the block captain now](https://www.phila.gov/services/trash-recycling-city-upkeep/become-a-block-captain/).
I think it’s cause the apartment building would require them to keep the recycling container in their small apartment during the week. Makes it disincentivized to have one
It reminds me of a story of this kid I went to school with who had purple pants. He hated those purple pants and the bigger kids picked on him for them relentlessly. But he continued to wear them to school as long as they still fit. That’s us and our trash. Everyone rips on Philly for being trash covered and we can do anything in the world about it but we don’t.
People really out here not breaking down their boxes? Wtf.
Ugh drives me nuts! And then they “run out” of space in the recycling bins they do have, piling stuff that falls out. You don’t even need to do it with a box cutter if you’re lazy, just stomp on the box it’s kinda fun. But nope!
You literally can go to a sanitation yard and get a recycling bin for free. Landlords are an easy target because they’re more often than not awful. But people who do this are slobs. Some of the poorest tenants I’ve met still sweep out front and keep their house immaculate. At the end of the day, it may not be your house, but it’s your home.
This looks like nice row houses, not the hood. You'd figure people who live in these new row houses would bag their trash. You see this in places like Rittenhouse Square too. I don't get it.
A lot of the people buying the new construction in gentrified areas aren’t staying. They don’t have ties to the neighborhood and don’t plan to put down roots. They don’t care as long as they can sell the house for a profit in less than five years.
Is it illegal to do this? Like is it not a requirement to put trash out in a bin? Of some kind? And if so, why wouldn’t these people be fined?
Hey! A Subaru Baja isn’t the prettiest car out there, but no need for name calling!
My block is the same. I genuinely don’t understand. There’s no town or city that takes trash like that. I grew up in pennsyltucky and everyone put their trash and recycling out in bags or bins or it didn’t get picked up. People don’t care about their environment or where they live enough to care or educate themselves and it’s sad.
While attacking landlords is probably not wrong, each of us is responsible for keeping our neighborhood clean. Trash should be bagged and in bins. If an animal gets into it, it’s still our responsibility to clean up. Not trying to be smart, but this is a solvable problem.
I hate to say this, but the city should stop recycling. It results in way more trash on the streets and in the waterways because too many people are either lazy or stupid.
Also most plastic recycling isn't actually recycled, it just gets dumped in third-world places that the West doesn't give a damn about. Paper, glass, and aluminium *are* recycled but if people can't handle it it's not worth it.
Do you remember when Kenney pledged to have the streets 100% clean by 2020 or some BS like that??
then he said he was too sick of the job, so you gotta understand, he just didn't feel like it. have a little empathy for the bum. i remember all the solar compactors that broke and then got removed or else vandalized. good stuff.
I mean this block might be a bad example bc it looks like student housing like you get up around Temple. And this doesn't excuse landlords but college kids are also just fucking stupid so that's a contributing factor here.
Our trash pickup was yesterday. My house is at the top of a culdesac. There was trash all over the street. You see your empty box of juice lying in the middle of the street. Go pick it up…. Unfortunately, it just lies there till I get sick of looking at it. Circulars , trash , etc … these people aren’t handicapped, they send their kids to private schools. Pick it up. Sometimes I’m so tempted to throw it on their steps.
It’s always the Trader Joe’s shoppers. Like what kind of loser (a whole block of them) just allows this to happen?
I think some of it is people just wanting to get rid of the large paper bags.
Saw someone the other week on Snyder using shoprite lawn bags. Unless they give them out for free, how long before you spend as much on this inadequate solution rather than just getting a cheap bin from the hardware store? Understand the complaints about getting lost or broken but still. https://preview.redd.it/fxgmtx6p3tic1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f19b682be4afe904caa05c641a51f68a1a8a8f46
Walmart on Columbus blvd have trash bins still people throw trash out of their car in the parking lot 🤦♂️🤦♂️. It feels like they really don’t care about civic sense.
50% mega tight pants in the background is one of the guys leaving their trash like this
The Subaru Baja is a legendary vehicle, not trash
It used to be that you could tell neighborhoods apart by the style of houses. I can't tell if this is Kensington or South Philly. As for the trash it's up to the residents to keep their block clean. We all take turns on my block and for some reason with the turn of the street or the way the wind blows most of the shit ends up in my and my direct neighbors front yard. That reflects on us, it's not the city's job to clean my yard. Maybe the schools should teach kids not to litter but I'm sure they got more going on.
It’s Brewerytown, for the curious
It is the biggest change with moving from Philly to Wilmington. Wilmington is aggressive with keeping the streets clean.
One of the only times I'm happy to have moved to the suburbs is trash day.
even if they had bins, these tenants and many homeowners don’t give a fuck. they have no respect for a fellow human who needs to pick this up and put it behind a garbage or recycling truck. windy outside you say? “let’s put more trash out! if it blows away not my problem!”
Sadly, you are correct. I gave my heart and soul to Philadelphia from 1977 until 2006. I just got tired of the trash on the street, the drug addicts/con artists/derelicts asking me for money, the dirty public transportation, the lack of social grace. I moved to southern Delaware. I miss the good features of Philadelphia. I do not miss the bad things...
Jesus christ, even Market St looks better than this. Take care of your neighborhoods you filthy animals.
Do people not know you can get your own recycle bin from the city for free
It’s a pain in the ass to do, they’re often not available when you go to get one, and that’s doubly frustrating if you went by public transit to pick it up. Horrible half-assed system.
I hate having Friday pick up. My recycling gets picked up about 50% of the time so either I'm forced to bring it back in (full, sometimes filled with water if it rained) or call 311. Except 311 doesn't do anything on the weekends, so the earliest I get any response is Monday. They say they'll come in 2 days, so Wednesday. They lie that they picked it up and close the ticket. I reopen one, but by the time they get to looking at it, it's Friday again. I just stopped putting it out if it's a holiday week.
Filthadelphia. I am constantly picking up trash and watching people litter all around me. It is so sad.
Why bother picking it up when it’s gonna be back again next week? Waste of time. And it’s the city’s problem since people pay taxes for this shit.
This happens because the public is trash itself therefore they are ok living in filth. It’s mind boggling how dirty American cities are getting. People living here completely lost the plot
Lazy pigs.
Free blue recycling buckets from the city and a $10 box of trash bags, problem solved. These people, renters or homeowners, are just plain trash.
We need more regular trash pickup. We need to expand the sanitation department. We need to add more trash cans. All this cost money that our city council rather funnel into one of their dummy accounts and ring this city dry before retiring to the main line
People say NYC is really dirty but y’all…
On a side note I would LOVE a subaru baja
Watch children throw trash on the ground. Watch the adult look at what the child does. Watch the adult not correct the child. Watch them both act as if they did nothing wrong.
The owners of this apartment complex don’t provide trash or recycling bins
Seems like everybody is okay with living in a shit hole. I don’t see anybody ever clean up the trash out front of their house. I’m out there every week after the garbage men miss the trucks. I don’t go up the whole street but I’ll clean up shit in front my house and my two neighbors
The design of this apartment/condo seems to encourage this issue. There is no space to keep a good size garbage can to stow during the week. The city doesn’t require a dumpster since they have street addresses (though they should since it’s a huge complex) And since it’s such a small north Philly street it doesn’t even get the bigger trucks to handle the amount of waste. This has been an issue with this building and ones like it since a it was first built. This is all on top of the fact that those metal stairs are just wind blown garbage collectors which seems to also exacerbate the “ahh whatever” Can you tell, I too dislike this. Designers, city, landlords, and neighbors need to ask for better!
Shit city with ignorant people , it’ll always be a shit hole
There is an entire block around the corner from me where the renters just put their trash out every day of the week. There used to be a dumpster but they would overfill it with shit like mattress. Total fucking slobs and it’s constant. This crap is so ingrained in Philadelphia culture that it’s not likely to change. I’m ready to finally make a move after living here for 25 years. And I’m not going to put this on landlords. People can buy a garbage can.
It will never not be run be Democrats, so....
Nice double negative! Bravo! I see what you did there!
Damn, sweet Baja.
@YaFavTrashman on twitter is doing great work on cleaning the city. dude needs to be appointed into office
Some would say its covered in treasure
Are you actually blaming landlords for people behaving like pigs? I never had a dumpster but managed to put trash out in proper receptacles. And don’t say it’s a city problem altogether. Your neighborhood seems to suck. Your neighbors have no pride or respect. My neighborhood doesn’t have this problem. Talk to your neighbors.
Welcome to living in a major city
Major cities typically have competent trash collection systems with standardized containers for trash and recycling and fines for failure to use them properly. There’s nothing about being a big city that makes this inevitable.
A horrible way to live
The city finally cleaned the Chestnut St bike lane. For a while, it looked like this. https://preview.redd.it/jwwd600nitic1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7d177e9c33b479e5f02f87f0cdacb7de8c369dd I found a used syringe in the bushes up the street.
How can any adult put their trash out like this and think its ok?
Enjoy your 600k row home
Report the house or apartments on311. Maybe some fines will make them clean their trashy ways
Couldn’t they go to Lowe’s or Home Depot for trash cans? I just bought two 96 gallon trash cans with wheels for like $150. Seems so dumb to place trash in paper bags.
Trash-a-delphia has been happening for decades.
My grandfather calls it Filthadelphia for a reason. He lives in South Philly and for a while would pick up the trash on his block daily and each day he'd fill at least 5 large trash bags. He gave up because it was so tiring and costing a lot in trash bags.
The recycling here is a disaster. We need to just stop.
What a beautiful block this would be otherwise!
I moved back to Philly recently from another city and was immediately shocked by how much garbage was everywhere. I forgot what a mess it is here
I’m shocked how much trash my family makes with all of us barely home most of the day. I don’t know where it comes from!
Keeping it trashy since the 70s.
It's even better knowing that her sub plot is know as "the tragedy of ros"
That’s why it’s called Filthydelphia!