The Current Trash Crisis
Friday May 20th, 2022
Today marks the second time this month and the third time this year (2022) that The Cobblestones have experienced a service delay in trash.
The few text messages I have received from neighbors is that it is unacceptable, and I want to agree. I even went on NextDoor© to vent and pull in the surrounding residents of The Village and Blossom Row, as they are also experiencing the delays, but then I paused.
Gold Medal, a service we were very happy with during the first year of the pandemic, was consumed by Republic Services in October of 2021. Since then, we experienced a surge in Covid19 cases in January, so even tho it was an inconvenience, it seemed unavoidable and understandable.
Now, there is another surge of illness (Montgomery County just imposed indoor mask mandates again, as COVID cases have risen) and this could be a cause for the delay, but one can’t also help but think about fuel prices cutting into Republic’s profits; Is staggering/delaying service a creative way to make cutbacks?
Our complaint comes down to communication and transparency. If they wish to creatively cut back to save money (and not raise our rates) then they should be open and let us in on it. They restructure the delivery service on the fly and let clients know before the trash is already out. We can plan ahead and try to cut back on our trash when there is going to be a delay.
Whoever would have thought we’d need to give trash this much time and attention?
Paging The Councilwoman
I reached out Councilwoman Cindy Bass’s office and explained our disappointment. I asked that her office be advised of the limited options available for communities like ours. I asked that there be standards if a business is allowed to get close to monopolizing in the City of Philadelphia the way Republic has.
Options…
So let’s be brutally honest. Republic Services is IT for the type of trash pickup we are accustomed to.
Take a look at Waste Management:
Waste Management would be over 500% increase in our trash budget.
Next- back in January, I reached out to:
I sent them information about our community, photos of our parking lot, where we put our trash, what an average trash pick up looks like. Things were going well, then they asked about the service that we had and how much we pay. After that, they quit communicating. I took it to mean that they were nowhere in our budget or wished to be.
No Dumpster Community
Out of the remaining services, all require on dumpsters. Logistically, The Cobblestones is not prepared to take such a drastic step and doing so would require much community input.
In closing
I, and the Board will continue to seek solutions for our trash problems but truly hope it self-corrects itself and Republic Services fixes the problem.
Truly Yours,
Natasha (D4)