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Too much trash on Beacon Hill? Answer: Cut back number of weekly trash pickups
By adamg on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 2:59pm
It may sound counter-intuitive to those of us with just one pickup a week, but Ross Levanto explains how cutting the neighborhood's weekly trash pickups from three to two would make the place less trashy:
One out of every four hours during the week, trash is at the side of the street. No wonder trash remains the top area of concern for residents. Switching to two days of pick up, plus recycling on each of these days (hence, 2 + 2) will greatly improve the trash situation on Beacon Hill, and in the other downtown neighborhoods that currently have three pick-up days.
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Comments
Why would any neighborhood
Why would any neighborhood need more than one pickup a week?
When you have the density of BH, it really helps
There is just no place to put the trash. Every 2 days it really piles up.
Pictures if you need help understanding. Although I don't have them
at the moment.
No dumpsters
Many (maybe even most) buildings in Beacon Hill don't have space for dumpsters or outdoor trash cans for residents. I would expect most residents wouldn't appreciate having to keep trash in their buildings for a whole week between pick-ups - especially since older neighborhoods like Beacon Hill and the North End (which also has 3 pick-ups) tend to have rodent problems.
I live in the North End and I could deal with 2 pick-ups a week, but I live alone and eat out a lot. Families with kids or people who cook a lot or work at home probably generate quite a bit more than I do and are probably grateful for the current frequency.
Rats and rubble
Most of the Hill, John Kerry's decadent horseshoe aside, is extremely dense, with very narrow sidewalks and little if any back or side yard or even walkway. The houses are abutting.
We lived on the North Slope and heard from the lifetime residents that there was no practical place for trash cans in most homes. Those exposed in the tiny gardens were rat and cat lures. So, multiple pickups reduced the inconvenience to the residents and the pest problems. Some people only had one can a week. Others had a little can, practical for inside.
Legislator jokes aside, the Hill is full of rats who live and love in the many subway tunnels and other underground spaces.
The conversation reminded me though of my oldest son, who grew up loving the trucks, to the point that I tracked down Match Box and other models, mostly from England where they also appreciate the dustbin lorry. Our thrice weekly pickup was early, before nursery school. We'd wait on the steps until Mike arrived on the side of the truck. He had an impressive handlebar mustache and a great smile. He appreciated my son's admiration for the truck and always greeted him.
We must know each other.
I fondly remember greeting the trash guys with my nursery school aged kid. We knew all the trash guys by name. I was sad when BFI(?) lost the contract and Capitol won it.... not because there's anything wrong with Capitol's service, but the guys we had come to know and love went away.
Would love to.....
.....know his rational for 9am collection rather then 7am. Trash collection starts at 7am in the city, therefore trash must be curbside by 7am. It can be placed out anytime the previous day after 5pm. Why does he want pick up to begin at 9am? Could it be because they dont want to put out the trash on the night before like the rest of us? Do any other neighborhoods demand specific time frames for service? I doubt it.
9am pickup
I don't know if his thinking is the same, but in the North End they wanted to move pickups to 9am and not allow trash on the street until after midnight so that there would be less time for rats to get at the bags left outside.
At any rate, it didn't happen because moving the pickup time up 2 hours would have jacked up the price of trash removal for the city, so I'm guessing it won't happen in Beacon Hill, either.
9 a.m. pick up would allow for same-day trash pick up
We are interested in 9 a.m. pick up on Beacon Hill so that we can enforce what's called same-day trash pick up, where trash can only be placed out on the same day that it's picked up (so after midnight). 7 a.m. is just too early to make this concept practical.
It's not legal before midnight
It is not legal to put trash out before midnight.
The state sanitary code (105 CMR 410.600) says:
Garbage and rubbish shall be put out for collection no earlier than the day of collection. That means you can't put it out before midnight.
Unfortunately, the City of Boston not only fails to enforce the law, they openly encourage people to break it (The city's website has, at various times, said to put trash out any time after 7:00 PM the night before pick-up)
The argument for the 9:00 AM pickup instead of 7:00 AM is threefold:
Nobody is "demanding" any specific time for pick-up, but obviously citizen input is or should be an important factor when the city schedules pick-up times.
same neighborhood, different buildings: different rules
I've lived in two different buildings in the same neighborhood and the rules are different for each. At my current building residents are not allowed to put out trash the night before because it attracts rats. Trash goes out only the morning of trash pickup which is twice per week and only once per week for recycling.
Not Beacon Hill, but...
In the neighborhoods where I spend my time all day (JP, Rox, Mat, Dor, Southie, South End), the times and days they pick up the trash seem to be the least of the problem. What's really degrading quality of life is the people who put their trash out in stuff other than sturdy, sealed bags and who don't recycle properly. Oh, and all the ridiculous littering. How about if people take responsibility for the part that happens before the trash trucks come?