‘Completely unacceptable’: City leaders fed up with recycling service
By WBAL Staff
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BALTIMORE (WBAL) — Baltimore City leaders and residents alike are fed up with the city’s recycling service. The Department of Public Works provided few answers when prodded Thursday, leaving the council frustrated.
“It is completely unacceptable to not, at the very least, have the data to understand how we get from biweekly to weekly recycling pickup,” said Councilman Zeke Cohen.
According to DPW leaders, recycling pickup is happening every other week. But councilmembers told 11 News, that service is often spotty. It’s also a breach of the city charter, which mandates weekly collection.
Thursday’s hearing comes just days after a group of residents filed a court petition asking for mandated service intervals. Councilmembers asked questions like, “How many people do you need to hire?”, “How much will that cost?” or even simply, “Tell us what you need to fix this.”
“I just want to understand, how many crews do we need to get back to weekly recycling? I think that’s what our communities are looking for,” Cohen said.
But DPW officials couldn’t provide an answer.
“We continue to look at those numbers, like I mentioned, both in our current staffing levels. As soon as we have that information, we’ll provide it to the council,” said DPW Deputy Director Richard Luna.
Officials reported some good news. Sixty-eight new vehicles are on order. New bonuses and higher salaries are in the works to make DPW more competitive with other employers. But specific details weren’t provided, further irritating lawmakers.
“It’s an ongoing conversation that we’ll continuously have throughout the department,” said Luna.
“OK. I guess, I’m wondering when the conversation would get to completion, though,” replied Councilwoman Phylicia Porter.
“Whether it’s incompetence, or obfuscation,” said Cohen, “either way, the results need to be there and right now, they’re simply not.”
The panel gave DPW officials two weeks to report back with numbers.
Officials said meeting the deadline is unlikely, but they will try.
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