Twice-weekly trash pickups are beginning in South Philly and Center City this week

Philadelphia is beginning twice-weekly trash pickup in South Philly and Center City this week, part of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s first-year priority of making Philadelphia a cleaner city.

“This is what residents can see, touch and feel the most,” Parker said Monday at a news conference in South Philly touting the initiative.

» READ MORE: Twice-weekly trash pickup is getting tested in two Philly neighborhoods

The first segment of the city’s $11.9 million pilot twice-weekly trash pickup program will cover the area from Callowhill Street to Pattison Avenue between 30th Street and Columbus Boulevard.

Residents there will see a second trash pickup three days after their standard pickup day, excluding Sundays. For example, Monday pickup areas will see a second trash pickup on Thursdays, Tuesday pickup areas will have a second pickup on Fridays, Thursday pickup areas will have a second pickup on Mondays, and so forth. The city will not pick up trash a second time during holiday weeks, said Carlton Williams, director of the city’s Office of Clean and Green Initiatives.

The city plans to expand twice-weekly trash pickups to North Philly and West Philly next fall, officials said.

Williams said that the city chose to begin its pilot program in South Philly and Center City because it already had enough staff, trucks, and compactors to double pickups in the area, and wanted to begin the program immediately. The city has ordered more trucks and compactors to expand to larger areas like North and West Philly but the wait for their arrival can be long, Williams said.

Recycling in the pilot neighborhoods will still be collected once a week. The city said it will send brochures to all households in the pilot areas with more information about the initiative, and the same information will also be available online at phila.gov.

Standing at a podium in front of two garbage trucks, city officials on Monday underscored the importance of more frequent trash pickups for Philadelphia residents’ quality of life. Parker, who ran for office on a promise to make the city “safer, cleaner, and greener,” has described cleanliness as a matter of public safety. The trash pickup pilot program comes on the heels of a city initiative this summer to clean every block in Philadelphia.

“When you walk around our streets and our neighborhoods, you see bags of trash piled up on vacant lots, along Big Bellies, all up along Broad Street. These things impact the quality of life in our community and our neighborhood,” Williams said.

» READ MORE: Did Mayor Parker’s plan to clean every block work?

Council President Kenyatta Johnson, who grew up in the Point Breeze neighborhood, said he remembered his “Nana” having to deal with too much trash at her house. Now representing the same district in City Council, Johnson said he wants his neighborhood to feel just as clean and cared for as wealthier sections of the city, like Rittenhouse Square.

“We used to put the garbage in the freezer,” he said, “because Nana ain’t let you put the garbage outside early … this is a testament to us having high-quality services.”

Crystal Jacobs Shipman, the city’s sanitation commissioner, noted that the need for more regular trash pickups can lead to increased illegal dumping on the city streets.

“A lot of people when they think illegal dumping, they only think about the big items,” Jacobs Shipman said. ”But illegal dumping is also the corner of your block where somebody said, ‘I can’t keep that trash in my house, it’s smelly.’”

“We’ve heard you loud and clear, South Philly, Center City, that you may not have all of the options you need to store your trash until your next trash day,” she said.