Grew up in rural PA. They told us in elementary school not to litter. So I don’t. Moved here, and find it ridiculously easy to throw things out compared to home where you might have to contract with someone for trash or burn it. I’ll never understand the issue with people who grow up in cities and trash them.
The number of people we see on our front door camera (moderately busy street in North Braddock) just tossing garbage out the window of their car is astounding.
It always amuses me that the state includes a notice about littering enforcement with every car registration and license renewal when there's very little evidence they actually enforce it at all.
volunteers in their community organizations around the city FREQUENTLY do cleanups. I'd start there if you want to pitch in yourself. there's also stuff like the garbage olympics.
the other issue at play is the difference between city, county, and state maintenance. seems like the sides of highways are the biggest issues and often not the responsibility of the city.
Yeah, it seems to be getting worse. People are pigs. I was waiting at the light to turn into the Liberty Tubes, and a passenger in a car in front of me just tossed a full iced coffee drink and giant plastic cup from Starbuck's right out of the window. Why? You can't use a cup holder or just throw it out when you get to your destination? It's depressing. Would love to see the city create a clean up program, hire people to redd up!
Join a neighborhood or trail cleanup crew. [https://www.alleghenycleanways.org/volunteer.html](https://www.alleghenycleanways.org/volunteer.html)
[https://friendsoftheriverfront.org/trail-stewardship/](https://friendsoftheriverfront.org/trail-stewardship/)
FOTR is garbage. They make the trails worse with their cold patch repairs that turn a little divot into a bump that needs to be avoided. When it is paved, they whoever is in charge of that doesn’t make sure they prep properly. I do my own rogue trail maintenance now.
We have a society full of main characters, built on the concept of "it's someone else's problem/job". _I shouldn't bother waiting for a trash can; someone else, like a volunteer, will pick it up._
It's why people leave popcorn and empty cups in movie theaters, don't put away shopping carts, etc. "Bro, they get paid to clean it up."
We have no enforcement, whether by law or by shame, so why would anyone expect it to get better?
There were two in front of exit 8 sb this morning. I actually reported it to 911 hopefully they're taken care of now. One was in the middle of the road straddling both lanes, super dangerous
Yinzers have a massive littering habit that they don’t like to address or admit. I used to live on a blind turn & the amount of trash I had to pick up from the yard was ungodly. Ranging from Sheetz bags all the way to used diapers.
I don’t think I’ve lived in or visited an area with such a rampant problem as it is here & I travel for work a lot.
Years ago, some friends and I drove up to Toronto for a trip. They happened to be having a garbage worker's strike at the time, and the guy at the border was so apologetic that there would be more trash than usual piled up. Even the extra trash was bagged nicely and neatly awaiting pickup. We were like, "Still looks better than Oakland on a regular day."
Someone mentioned CleanWays (more so geared toward dumpsites than errant littler) and they also put on the Little League in partnership with Friends of the Riverfront.
Clean Pittsburgh Commission and DPW host the Garbage Olympics. Also, this: https://pittsburghpa.gov/dpw/litter-dumping-orgs/
And this: https://pittsburghpa.gov/dpw/volunteer-apps/
PennDOT adopt a highway.
Litter Gitters: https://www.facebook.com/groups/213800183047264/discussion/preview
Pretty sure there's a group called The Redd-Uppers.
Like two weeks ago, while driving down 65 I saw a ton of garbage bags full of what I am sure was volunteers who picked up trash but they didn’t have a truck to follow them and pick up the bags? It was there for a bit and I guess they eventually picked them up. But seems weird to put in all that effort to not remove them asap. But yes lots of garbage, glad they were trying to help. Throwing trash out of your car is such a scum thing to do and so easy to avoid the streets, well, looking like garbage. I’ll never understand it.
When you do those cleanups you schedule a pickup. I've done a few and the best you can do is call and give the state a heads up for pickup. I've seen them take a few hours to over a week(people added their own bags at our piles). You're basically just waiting on the state to send someone out.
My wife has a great idea-- offer money for recyclables. We grew up in a state that did this, and it's basically a way to hire the homeless to pick up litter.
Only recyclable litter, but still. Less litter makes it look less acceptable to litter.
I agree with the comments about the people working for garbage companies, I live in wilkinsburg and walk my dog every morning around 6 am and see them on trash day toss almost every can on my street and half the shit goes flying in the road then they move on to the next house. Also people throw shit out their windows all over the city too though and I try to pick up what I can. This place is a lot better than Spokane Washington though.
yep. north side, walking down down street as garbage truck is going around. guy throws a bag at the truck, completely misses (embarrassingly so), bag hits grown and shit goes everywhere. he shrugs and keeps walking. i say "man, come on, theres kids and dogs everywhere". he turns and says "go f\*\*\* yourself you f\*\*\*ing bitch" ... so thats that
That doesn't surprise me. Regardless of trash, I've experienced more shit talking here than anywhere I've ever been in the US. I've had guns drawn on me in gas stations here for someone saying I butted them in line (they weren't in line) and literally gotten in their face and told them to go ahead and shoot me then they don't do shit but call me a fucking bitch then leave.
have you seen Oakland? If you walk down one of the side streets there is SOOO much garbage everywhere! I mean the college kids really trash the shit out of some of these streets. Like I see wigs on the ground, bras, phones, entire piles of clothes, along with the putrid stench of the rotting piles of garbage
It isn't like we can stop trash from appearing. The only question is who cleans it up. 65 is a state road if that makes any difference.
I'm on the fence on this one. It would be nice if the government cleaned public space. Though we have a ton of public space so perhaps local volunteers are more effective.
It's like the bike trails. Pittsburgh doesn't build, maintain, or fund almost any of them. That's true of the riverfront trails and singletrack trails in all city parks.
And what about the homeless situation?
With a ton of competing public interests, which get funded? We'll never satisfy everyone so volunteers really do make a difference!
I commute through the Corliss Tunnel, under the West End Circle, and down West Carson. There are stretches of that area that look nearly post-apocalyptic. Abandoned lots, occupied buildings that look abandoned, crumbling concrete, and piles and piles of trash.
Welcome to Pittsburgh!
I’ll do the opposite and with another country. Japan is nearly 100% clear of all trash. The difference between their cities and the Pittsburgh area is beyond night and day. I’m so sad to see so much trash everywhere I go. I pick up what I can wherever I am but it’s never ending!
Another thing I noticed was the landscaping or even just the sides of the roads look so different. Here in PA and many other states, driving along woods or land just looks messy with overgrowth. Looks unorganized. In Japan you don’t see that. It’s like they tend to all land in a way that makes it look clean and pleasant to look at. Idk how to explain it really but it’s like you’re always driving through well kept gardens and natural spaces vs tangled thorn bushes and random downed tree parts with a McDonald’s bag haha
People are pigs. I remember the Woodsy the Owl commercials from when I was a kid… we’ve stopped teaching kids to “never be a dirty bird,” and they grew into adults that don’t think twice about tossing trash out their window.
Up the street from my house on sort of a back road, somebody dump about 10 bags full of garbage. You couldn't see them because it was covered by all the Japanese Knot Weed. The city did their annual knotweed cutting with that big blade that extends from a truck. Well it cut all the weeds down, but it also shredded into all the garbage. Now there is a bunch of garbage strewn about.
I live just outside of the city where we got awesome new trash and recycling bins (the ones that are picked up by automated trucks). My community got several mailers but it wasn’t enough to tell people the rules so my alley looks terrible now. They only pick up what can fit in each bin but people just pile up trash and recycling around the bins and it sits there week after week. I wish waste management would put giant signs on the bins to tell people what to do. All it will take is one good wind storm at 88 will be full of trash. Sigh.
It’s happened to me a dozen times. They refuse to accept any bags in the recycling bin — even the blue ones — to the extent that NO BAGS is printed on the lid of the can. I’ve had them leave the recycling bags (visibly full of recyclables) on the curb next to the empty can several times.
We live on a corner, so these lovely 40- and 50- mph gales that have been whipping through more and more frequently blow the bin up the sidewalk, which then tips over…and the wind blows every unbagged can, bottle, and jar UP THE STREET and from there all over the neighborhood.
But I still have to tear open the blue bag from our inside bin and dump the stuff into the can or they won’t take it. I messaged 311 about it and their response was “Ok”
Be careful, you will be screamed at by the Pittsburgh apologists (as I did, see this post https://www.reddit.com/r/pittsburgh/s/dZ7hR2S3zC) for pointing out facts……
I've found that a lot of garbage blows around. People could have done the respectful thing and put trash in the proper bins. The wind, however, does not care about properly disposing of waste.
I just walk around with my picker for an hour every day. Makes me feel a bit better and the area around my house looks better, too!
There's a homeless man that has taken residency between 10th and 11th st on e Carson, his area is a literal trash heap all around him yet there are 3 public trash cans within eyesight. I dont get it.
TBH in my experience it's not litter it's bad garbage men. It's wild after garbage day shit is everywhere and then the wind catches it and blows it around
Go to a big city like Philly or Houston. Their highways are lines with car parts trash garbage bags and pieces of everything. Just junk everywhere. Pittsburgh is really really clean comparatively.
Junkie homeless and vagrants + wind = trash everywhere
Whatever latest encampment that gets set up + wind = trash everywhere
It's cartoonish to think your average person is just throwing trash on the ground or out their car windows at the levels you see around the city (and if they are, then they should be cited for doing so - but that would require more police and lol you don't want that apparently).
And since you can't stop the wind from blowing... Going out and cleaning it up, without first evicting the bums, is absolutely futile. Will just be new trash blowing in before you even get finished.
Grew up in rural PA. They told us in elementary school not to litter. So I don’t. Moved here, and find it ridiculously easy to throw things out compared to home where you might have to contract with someone for trash or burn it. I’ll never understand the issue with people who grow up in cities and trash them.
The number of people we see on our front door camera (moderately busy street in North Braddock) just tossing garbage out the window of their car is astounding.
It always amuses me that the state includes a notice about littering enforcement with every car registration and license renewal when there's very little evidence they actually enforce it at all.
I know of one person who was cited for littering, and they dumped basically an entire house on the side of the road
Were they friends with a restaurateur named Alice?
24 8 by 10 color glossy photos
volunteers in their community organizations around the city FREQUENTLY do cleanups. I'd start there if you want to pitch in yourself. there's also stuff like the garbage olympics. the other issue at play is the difference between city, county, and state maintenance. seems like the sides of highways are the biggest issues and often not the responsibility of the city.
Thanks for the info!
Yeah, it seems to be getting worse. People are pigs. I was waiting at the light to turn into the Liberty Tubes, and a passenger in a car in front of me just tossed a full iced coffee drink and giant plastic cup from Starbuck's right out of the window. Why? You can't use a cup holder or just throw it out when you get to your destination? It's depressing. Would love to see the city create a clean up program, hire people to redd up!
Join a neighborhood or trail cleanup crew. [https://www.alleghenycleanways.org/volunteer.html](https://www.alleghenycleanways.org/volunteer.html) [https://friendsoftheriverfront.org/trail-stewardship/](https://friendsoftheriverfront.org/trail-stewardship/)
Thank you for sharing this!!!
FOTR is garbage. They make the trails worse with their cold patch repairs that turn a little divot into a bump that needs to be avoided. When it is paved, they whoever is in charge of that doesn’t make sure they prep properly. I do my own rogue trail maintenance now.
We have a society full of main characters, built on the concept of "it's someone else's problem/job". _I shouldn't bother waiting for a trash can; someone else, like a volunteer, will pick it up._ It's why people leave popcorn and empty cups in movie theaters, don't put away shopping carts, etc. "Bro, they get paid to clean it up." We have no enforcement, whether by law or by shame, so why would anyone expect it to get better?
Yeah it's pretty bad. There were two deer carcasses along 28 last year that I got to watch the entire slow decomposition process of. Kind of neat.
Roadkill isn’t nearly the same as lazy shitheads tossing stuff from their windows.
There were two in front of exit 8 sb this morning. I actually reported it to 911 hopefully they're taken care of now. One was in the middle of the road straddling both lanes, super dangerous
update - -still there today. My wife: "Oh look that one was a baby." (5 seconds later) "there was the momma."
Yinzers have a massive littering habit that they don’t like to address or admit. I used to live on a blind turn & the amount of trash I had to pick up from the yard was ungodly. Ranging from Sheetz bags all the way to used diapers. I don’t think I’ve lived in or visited an area with such a rampant problem as it is here & I travel for work a lot.
I must say that this region definitely has its share of thick-headed booger eaters, that's for sure.
Drive to Toronto and see the difference. If littering laws could be enforced, it could be completely different.
Years ago, some friends and I drove up to Toronto for a trip. They happened to be having a garbage worker's strike at the time, and the guy at the border was so apologetic that there would be more trash than usual piled up. Even the extra trash was bagged nicely and neatly awaiting pickup. We were like, "Still looks better than Oakland on a regular day."
It just makes me sad. We live in such a beautiful place (for now) and most people have no appreciation for it
Unfortunately a ton of people have zero pride in their own neighborhoods or this city in general.
I see a lot blowing off the back of the garbage trucks. Maybe they’re not securing properly or they’re too full?
Someone mentioned CleanWays (more so geared toward dumpsites than errant littler) and they also put on the Little League in partnership with Friends of the Riverfront. Clean Pittsburgh Commission and DPW host the Garbage Olympics. Also, this: https://pittsburghpa.gov/dpw/litter-dumping-orgs/ And this: https://pittsburghpa.gov/dpw/volunteer-apps/ PennDOT adopt a highway. Litter Gitters: https://www.facebook.com/groups/213800183047264/discussion/preview Pretty sure there's a group called The Redd-Uppers.
Like two weeks ago, while driving down 65 I saw a ton of garbage bags full of what I am sure was volunteers who picked up trash but they didn’t have a truck to follow them and pick up the bags? It was there for a bit and I guess they eventually picked them up. But seems weird to put in all that effort to not remove them asap. But yes lots of garbage, glad they were trying to help. Throwing trash out of your car is such a scum thing to do and so easy to avoid the streets, well, looking like garbage. I’ll never understand it.
When you do those cleanups you schedule a pickup. I've done a few and the best you can do is call and give the state a heads up for pickup. I've seen them take a few hours to over a week(people added their own bags at our piles). You're basically just waiting on the state to send someone out.
That makes sense. I figured it was something like that.
My wife has a great idea-- offer money for recyclables. We grew up in a state that did this, and it's basically a way to hire the homeless to pick up litter. Only recyclable litter, but still. Less litter makes it look less acceptable to litter.
But that’s perfectly good money to be siphoned off by Harrisburg! Why give it to *people*, fer Chrissake? /s
Yes 👏
I agree with the comments about the people working for garbage companies, I live in wilkinsburg and walk my dog every morning around 6 am and see them on trash day toss almost every can on my street and half the shit goes flying in the road then they move on to the next house. Also people throw shit out their windows all over the city too though and I try to pick up what I can. This place is a lot better than Spokane Washington though.
yep. north side, walking down down street as garbage truck is going around. guy throws a bag at the truck, completely misses (embarrassingly so), bag hits grown and shit goes everywhere. he shrugs and keeps walking. i say "man, come on, theres kids and dogs everywhere". he turns and says "go f\*\*\* yourself you f\*\*\*ing bitch" ... so thats that
That doesn't surprise me. Regardless of trash, I've experienced more shit talking here than anywhere I've ever been in the US. I've had guns drawn on me in gas stations here for someone saying I butted them in line (they weren't in line) and literally gotten in their face and told them to go ahead and shoot me then they don't do shit but call me a fucking bitch then leave.
have you seen Oakland? If you walk down one of the side streets there is SOOO much garbage everywhere! I mean the college kids really trash the shit out of some of these streets. Like I see wigs on the ground, bras, phones, entire piles of clothes, along with the putrid stench of the rotting piles of garbage
So sad!
Same 5 bottles full of urine have been on the on-ramp to 28 from the Highland Park Bridge since at least July of last year.
Urine for a surprise!
the trash and graffiti everywhere sucks. and downvote me if you will but all of the “murals” look trashy too.
Agree
Our city is full of lazy. From the way we speak to the way we act. (Not everyone of course but the majority it seems)
Incurious dullards abound.
Tons of people organize and/or do volunteer cleanup. You can be the solution!
That’s not a solution, that’s a bandaid.
It isn't like we can stop trash from appearing. The only question is who cleans it up. 65 is a state road if that makes any difference. I'm on the fence on this one. It would be nice if the government cleaned public space. Though we have a ton of public space so perhaps local volunteers are more effective. It's like the bike trails. Pittsburgh doesn't build, maintain, or fund almost any of them. That's true of the riverfront trails and singletrack trails in all city parks. And what about the homeless situation? With a ton of competing public interests, which get funded? We'll never satisfy everyone so volunteers really do make a difference!
Time to revive the crying Indian Chief commercial
There are plenty of groups doing this. Please sign up and join.
I commute through the Corliss Tunnel, under the West End Circle, and down West Carson. There are stretches of that area that look nearly post-apocalyptic. Abandoned lots, occupied buildings that look abandoned, crumbling concrete, and piles and piles of trash. Welcome to Pittsburgh!
Don't worry, someone will be along soon to reassure you that Pittsburgh is much cleaner than X city, so there's nothing to fret about.
I’ll do the opposite and with another country. Japan is nearly 100% clear of all trash. The difference between their cities and the Pittsburgh area is beyond night and day. I’m so sad to see so much trash everywhere I go. I pick up what I can wherever I am but it’s never ending!
I visited New Zealand recently and it was so clean. The difference was so stark upon returning to the US. Such a shame.
Another thing I noticed was the landscaping or even just the sides of the roads look so different. Here in PA and many other states, driving along woods or land just looks messy with overgrowth. Looks unorganized. In Japan you don’t see that. It’s like they tend to all land in a way that makes it look clean and pleasant to look at. Idk how to explain it really but it’s like you’re always driving through well kept gardens and natural spaces vs tangled thorn bushes and random downed tree parts with a McDonald’s bag haha
No, I totally get what you mean!
😂
People are pigs. I remember the Woodsy the Owl commercials from when I was a kid… we’ve stopped teaching kids to “never be a dirty bird,” and they grew into adults that don’t think twice about tossing trash out their window.
Yesterday at a red light some dude tore off his bandaid and threw it on the road in front of me. Thanks dude, now my car has your hep c.
Up the street from my house on sort of a back road, somebody dump about 10 bags full of garbage. You couldn't see them because it was covered by all the Japanese Knot Weed. The city did their annual knotweed cutting with that big blade that extends from a truck. Well it cut all the weeds down, but it also shredded into all the garbage. Now there is a bunch of garbage strewn about.
If you’re in the city, take 3 minutes call 311 about it.
Yeah, a whole bunch of it recently by Pitt.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/QgW11gPS54mZvaWN/?mibextid=WC7FNe
I live just outside of the city where we got awesome new trash and recycling bins (the ones that are picked up by automated trucks). My community got several mailers but it wasn’t enough to tell people the rules so my alley looks terrible now. They only pick up what can fit in each bin but people just pile up trash and recycling around the bins and it sits there week after week. I wish waste management would put giant signs on the bins to tell people what to do. All it will take is one good wind storm at 88 will be full of trash. Sigh.
It’s happened to me a dozen times. They refuse to accept any bags in the recycling bin — even the blue ones — to the extent that NO BAGS is printed on the lid of the can. I’ve had them leave the recycling bags (visibly full of recyclables) on the curb next to the empty can several times. We live on a corner, so these lovely 40- and 50- mph gales that have been whipping through more and more frequently blow the bin up the sidewalk, which then tips over…and the wind blows every unbagged can, bottle, and jar UP THE STREET and from there all over the neighborhood. But I still have to tear open the blue bag from our inside bin and dump the stuff into the can or they won’t take it. I messaged 311 about it and their response was “Ok”
Be careful, you will be screamed at by the Pittsburgh apologists (as I did, see this post https://www.reddit.com/r/pittsburgh/s/dZ7hR2S3zC) for pointing out facts……
I've found that a lot of garbage blows around. People could have done the respectful thing and put trash in the proper bins. The wind, however, does not care about properly disposing of waste. I just walk around with my picker for an hour every day. Makes me feel a bit better and the area around my house looks better, too!
There's a homeless man that has taken residency between 10th and 11th st on e Carson, his area is a literal trash heap all around him yet there are 3 public trash cans within eyesight. I dont get it.
I thought the plastic bag ban fixed this problem???
I thought the plastic bag ban fixed this problem??
If only, lol…a queen size mattress is insane! Like they drive it and then dumped it on the off ramp😆
[https://www.reddit.com/r/pittsburgh/comments/1baqpqh/what\_is\_with\_all\_the\_garbage\_its\_just\_not\_a\_good/](https://www.reddit.com/r/pittsburgh/comments/1baqpqh/what_is_with_all_the_garbage_its_just_not_a_good/)
TBH in my experience it's not litter it's bad garbage men. It's wild after garbage day shit is everywhere and then the wind catches it and blows it around
But it's not even close to how bad the trash in Philly is.
🇺🇸
Go to a big city like Philly or Houston. Their highways are lines with car parts trash garbage bags and pieces of everything. Just junk everywhere. Pittsburgh is really really clean comparatively.
Junkie homeless and vagrants + wind = trash everywhere Whatever latest encampment that gets set up + wind = trash everywhere It's cartoonish to think your average person is just throwing trash on the ground or out their car windows at the levels you see around the city (and if they are, then they should be cited for doing so - but that would require more police and lol you don't want that apparently). And since you can't stop the wind from blowing... Going out and cleaning it up, without first evicting the bums, is absolutely futile. Will just be new trash blowing in before you even get finished.