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bpousley t1_jddk28v wrote

I'm CEO at Glitter and thought I'd clarify a few things the article misconstrues:

Glitter cleans 175+ blocks every week with direct resident and business support and this doesn't stop that work. The union complaint only affects a small pilot program we had to coordinate for pickup of collected litter after trash day. We now must work directly with neighbors to store the collected bag on the block until the following trash collection.

Good news: Glitter continues to work everyday with neighbors to solve the after trash day mess left by the city. We're just now forced to do it by ourselves!

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sluman001 t1_jddpdf2 wrote

What if we scheduled a block for the day before or the day of trash collection? Can they just leave the bags as if it were from a normal residence?

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bpousley t1_jddxd3f wrote

Yes, we either clean blocks the day before trash day and place bags curbside for regular curbside collection. Or we coordinate with neighbors on a block to do after trash day cleanups and securely store the bag with a neighbor until the following week.

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tough_ledi t1_jdeoh2x wrote

Why doesn't glitter just develop a part of the program where it picks up the trash bags at the end of each day to haul directly to the dump? I understand why the union has issues with the union members handling trash outside of its agreed-upon terms and conditions. So glitter could just get a pick-up truck and go around and grab the trash from designated areas itself, eh?

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bpousley t1_jdet3fh wrote

We've certainly considered it. But we prefer to keep fewer trucks on the road, keep costs low, and hold the city responsible for the litter and trash caused by their lack of good services.

But it's definitely an option!

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LowPermission9 t1_jdhekvc wrote

This really should be the responsibility of the businesses that generate so much trash with their disposable packaging. Many municipalities cannot keep up with the mountains of trash generated every single day. I agree that sanitation should be a public service, but it’s not the city that is generating all of the garbage.

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tough_ledi t1_jdhtk36 wrote

The article states that businesses that generate a certain amount of trash must pay for a private company to collect their trash, and that the city does not do it for them.

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tough_ledi t1_jdexb4k wrote

Hmm. I doubt that a few additional trucks would make that big of a difference to anything in Philly or really anywhere in America. I also think that maybe then the org should just go into lobbying, if it's really just about holding the city accountable. There is a creative solution here that involves not having the contracts of city (& tax payer funded) unionized workers' contracts violated, whilst also not creating a culture war of for-profit private organizations pitted against the city government.

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jengibredia t1_jde4zh0 wrote

What is this "union complaint"? How does it affect the program?

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bpousley t1_jde8mjy wrote

Union complaint is opaque and in front of the Labor Board as we speak. They have raised objection to the city coordinating with us in any way beyond regular curbside trash collection.

So this just means we need to continue working directly with neighbors and businesses to manage the bags on the block and should not expect any coordination with sanitation to help resolve neighbor concerns.

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Kamarmarli t1_jdermfd wrote

BillyPenn.com does not always report accurately.

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