STROUDSBURG, Pa. — Most people in Stroudsburg will have to participate in a new trash pickup plan in the new year.
Residents used to have to find their own garbage hauler but not anymore.
Starting in the new year, nearly all residents will have to sign up for a mandatory, borough-wide trash collection service.
That means people here will have the same company coming to collect trash.
"There's like half a dozen or like ten different garbage collectors that go around this town every day," said resident John Brush.
Brush says the new mandatory borough-wide trash collection service is a great idea.
Starting in January, all residents who live in a single-family house, duplex, or a building that has four apartments or fewer will have to participate.
Stroudsburg Borough Manager Larry Kopp says garbage will be collected by GFL Environmental. It will cost residents roughly $33 a month, and they can choose to get a free 35, 65, or 95-gallon garbage can to use.
"They are allowed to put out one bulk item per week, which is really good. Yeah, so it's either a couch, a piece of furniture, appliance. They can put one bulk item per week along with their trash can," Kopp explained.
Stroudsburg residents hope the mandatory trash collection change will alleviate many of the problems the borough is seeing.
"You got all these different kinds of garbage trucks coming through here. Traffic's always getting backed up, and I think it's a good idea," resident Randy Hilbert said.
"You see trash cans out every day, people with their bags. The vermin get in. There's trash all over the place. So, it will make it cleaner. It will look better, and I think we'll have a better service overall. As I point out with everybody, with one hauler, we have much more leverage. If something isn't picked up, we can call the hauler, and they can go ahead and pick it up," Kopp said.
Trash will be picked up two days a week — one day for the south side of the borough and one day for the north.
Kopp says there will be a $1,000 fee if GFL misses a trash pickup. That's something people are very happy about.
"Hopefully, that will clear the situation because there was a while when I don't know if it was because of the pandemic or why, our garbage would sit here for days on end because they would either didn't have enough people or whatever," Brush added.
The new borough-wide trash collection service goes into effect in the new year.
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