As of July 1, 2019, trash and recycling collection in the City of Boston will begin one hour earlier, at 6 a.m. The City stresses that this earlier time will allow workers to get a jump-start on their day-long collection efforts, reducing congestion on city streets during peak hours.
However, some residents are concerned that the earlier time will lead to more people putting out their trash the night before, instead of the morning of, which will not help with rats eating garbage.
What do you think? Do you support the earlier trash collection in the North End? Vote in our poll and add your comments in the section below.
Web polls are unscientific and reflect only those who choose to participate. NorthEndWaterfront.com polls do not have any official significance and are only intended for the interest of our readers.
The earlier time is fine, its the pickup day being moved to Thursdays that’s a problem. It means trash not put out as scheduled, will be cluttering the sidewalks an extra day. Do we want that at the height of tourist and feast season?
The biggest problem is the fact that in 2019 trash is still put out on the street. It is seriously disgusting. Boston needs to study European cities like Florence that have central enclosed containers that residents must use.
Concerned Friend, you must not have traveled to part of Italy where the closed bins are overflowing and trash is piled up in front of them. Even if it could be done, where do you propose putting these bins on the already congested City sidewalks and streets?
That already happens with the existing schedule!
I know they are poor and just trying to make a buck but the trash pickers need to be arrested. They cause a large majority of the trash issues in the neighborhood. They are disrespectful and have no regard for our neighborhood. Start arresting them and throw them in jail.
Years ago I asked the BPD about arresting trash pickers and was told that once you put your trash out on the street it becomes public property and there is NOTHING the police can do to stop it. Do you want the police to waste resources overnight giving out fines for littering that the trash pickers will never pay? I have argued for years that the only way to stop the trash pickers is to eliminate the deposit on cans and bottles. Once there is no $ incentive the trash pickers will stop ripping bags open.
I have found that asking people to stop ripping open the bags and making a mess works 90% of the time. The other 10% swear at me (I think but it is in a foreign language).
Joyce, I agree. This is the root of the picking problem. The fact that these end up in the general trash shows that the recycling isn’t being used either.
Are you kidding me? Arrest the trash pickers. When the State introduced the bottle and can tax they should have realized what the result of their decision would cause .Eliminate the 5cent deposit = problem solved.
I agree that the trash pickers are a big part of the problem. They rip open our bags all the time searching for things and then the trash ends up all over the sidewalk for days. This also feeds into the rat problem. We usually wait to put our trash out until the morning to minimize this, but with the earlier start time, we and most others will start doing it at night which will make this problem worse. I know it’s a hard problem to fix, but the city needs to address the trash pickers as well.
What did our city councilor say about this when the complainers called her?
If the city thinks that people are going to get up at 5 in the morning to put out the trash, they have no idea how people are…
Everyone will put their trash out Wednesday night
The Bottom Line is the City wants the streets to be cleaned for the Tourist, not the Residents. The City Councillor
doesn’t call the shots, Marty Walsh does. He took over where Menino left off.
What did the mayor say when the complainers called him? I agree that this is a dumb idea but…unless you call or show up at city hall, voicing complaints here is useless.
The Mayor has repeatedly been contacted to help with cleanliness issues in the neighborhood. This IS his response. The City Councilor recently announced that 4 more hockey’s were coming to the North End. Has anyone seen them? I haven’t- maybe they are walking up and down Hanover St.
I am most concerned about the noise from the trash truck operators. Their trucks are very loud, likely in violation of the City’s decibel levels. If trash will be picked up earlier, then they need to use quieter equipment.
Also, we need some new rules regarding the way trash is put out on the street. Commercial Street between the Greenway and Atlantic Ave is always a mess after the trash haulers leave. Is it the fault of the haulers, the trash pickers or the ways by which residents/maintenance workers put the trash out on the street?
Bud
All of the above.
I have many issues about an earlier pick up and the entire trash issue in the North End.
Let me start off with why we always had 3 days a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) because the North End buildings have nowhere to store their trash. We should’ve never allowed the City to take away our third day, that’s #1.
#2: The seagulls tear the bags apart and make a complete mess, I see that on a daily basis.
#3: I take my trash out by 7:30 am on trash pick up days, on my way to work because of 2 reasons, I don’t want rats near my house and #2, I find it easier as I’m on my way out the door.
#4: If they pick up earlier in the mornings, then I will have to put the trash out at night and the rats, seagulls and garbage pickers are in my garbage.
Enough Said………
Bring back our third day of trash pickup. The North End is filthy anyway!!!!!
It only takes some common sense.
Third day of pickup means another day with trash on the street, making your #2 and #4 worse. It also means that trash can be on our streets 6 days of the week. Sunday night, Monday morning, Tuesday night, Wednesday morning, Thursday night, Friday morning. Think about that. Do you really think that will help solve the problem!?
Life Long North Ender, You are right on the Money. The only streets you see being clean on a daily basis are
Hanover St., Salem St., Parmenter St. part of Prince St. Why? The Restaurant Owners are the biggest contributors to the
Politicians, and they have it coming to them. We the Residents, and Landlords pay Taxes & we should have that
same respect. The Eliot School on Commercial St. is there because the Women from the No. End protested outside
City Hall when Menino was in office & that is why the school is there instead of an 88 ft. apt. or condo building.
The City took away half of No. Washington St. & it is considered the West End now. Anything worth having is
worth fighting for & there has not been a Protest outside City Hall since those women objected the 88 ft. building.
Actions speak much louder than words. The No. End Residents don’t stick together unless it is their building, or
their street, never is it Our Neighborhood, except for the Nursing Home issue. The Wheel that squeaks the loudest gets the grease, proof of that is the Eliot School. The City paid to my knowledge , $11 Million for that
prime peace of property. The City Councilors have no say, but Marty Walsh does.
If the City of Boston had their way there would be 60 story tower on every block .
If the reason for an earlier pickup is traffic, then why not have the pickup start at midnight. The trucks aren’t that loud and they move through the neighborhood quickly. The workers are done in time for breakfast and have the days off. Less time for rats and trash pickers to do their thing.
My bedroom is on faces the street and I have a street light right in my bedroom window (never there until a few years ago when they decided to put one there) I’ve owned my building since the early 70s.
The garbage truck is loud and I wouldn’t want to hear them every night at midnight for a half hour or so.
No thanks.
The move to Thursday is great!
Living by myself I don’t produce a lot of trash- in fact I take the trash out because it smells, not that the bag is full.
A few summers ago I took a long weekend and left on Thursday morning and took a red eye back, but was not home before trash collection.
I forgot to take the trash out the Monday before and then had to wait almost 2 weeks to take my trash out.
As far as trash pickers
A) recycling is the law in ma, so if you have cans in your trash, that’s the cause. If you seperate, there is no reason to tear the bags open.
B) when I have $.05 cans/ bottles (not often as I don’t drink soda and rarely drink at home), I put them in a seperate bag.
Take away the incentive to tear open trash bags and the problem gets better.
Also everyone who wants to arrest the trash pickers, I’d suggest checking out the documentary “redemption” from 2012.