Dwayne Simon, of the 400-block of Crescent Street, with the city’s new trash toters Wednesday morning.
Beginning this week, Harrisburg is distributing 31,000 new trash and recycling bins throughout the city, as part of a sanitation overhaul aimed at increasing recycling, reducing litter and ultimately lowering trash bills.
The new bins—95-gallon black toters for trash and 32-gallon blue cans for recycling—are being distributed free of charge to residential properties ranging from single-family homes to multi-unit buildings with four or fewer apartments.
The bins, manufactured and distributed by Rehrig Pacific under a $1.2-million contract, will be handed out over the next several weeks, starting with Allison Hill this week and proceeding through south Harrisburg and the river wards.
“This is going to hold all the trash anyone could possibly need,” Mayor Eric Papenfuse said Tuesday of the new black toters. As for the recycling bins, he said, “They’re rigid, they’re strong and they hold an awful lot of recycling.”
Rehring Pacific is relying on city records to identify where to place the bins, which will be tracked by serial numbers linked to individual addresses. Residents do not need to be present to receive their bins, the city said.
On Wednesday morning, Dwayne Simon stood in front of his home in the 400-block of Crescent Street beside a line of toters dropped off minutes before by a crew.
“We needed these. Very, very helpful,” he said, adding that in the past bins often overflowed and bags were left spilling their garbage into the street. “But these are big enough to hold all the trash,” he said. “With these right here, there’s no excuse.”
The new bins for recycling (left) and trash, on display at city hall.
The new bins are part of an overhaul of sanitation services first contemplated under former Mayor Linda Thompson, after a state intervention into city finances recommended privatizing sanitation to improve results and lower costs.
The city rejected that option, however, and, under Papenfuse, has sought to prove its own fleet can provide a reliable service at a reasonable price.
The city also hopes to encourage recycling with a set of policy changes, which the new blue bins are designed to accommodate. Under the new policy, residents can recycle virtually all paper products, tin, steel and most plastics, but not glass.
(The full 2015 recycling guide can be found on the city’s website or downloaded here.)
John Rarig, the city’s recycling coordinator, said that preliminary results suggest recycling has doubled under the policy, and Papenfuse said his own household had doubled its recycling.
More recycling will mean less trash and reduced dumping costs, although the city must still reach an annual 35,000-ton “put or pay” target at the incinerator or else face a financial penalty.
The city hopes to boost its numbers by bringing commercial and other accounts back to the city from private haulers, an effort that has prompted at least one lawsuit so far.
The monthly charge for pickup for each trash container is $32.34. Residents can request additional containers, but must pay the monthly fee for each one. Additional recycling bins will be distributed on request and picked up at no extra charge.
Residents can also request smaller bins, though the city is asking them to “give the new containers a chance” before downsizing, Papenfuse said. Smaller bins will come with the same monthly pickup charge and can be requested by calling 311.
Once the new bins have been distributed, the city will cease to pick up other containers. Residents can drop off old containers at the public works building at 1820 Paxton St. or can leave them out with their trash for pickup by the city.
