Title
Ordinance amending and supplementing the City of Pittsburgh Code, Title Six ("Conduct"), Article I ("Regulated Rights and Actions"), by amending Chapter 601 ("Public Order"), Section 601.11 ("Littering and Dumping") to more clearly define litter and illegal dumping violations and to update penalties to include community restitution.
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WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh, through its Department of Public Works, maintains City assets and administers a solid waste and recycling system that promotes a litter-free environment; and,
WHEREAS, the capacity of the City to remove litter and illegal dumping is supplemented by community- and volunteer-led clean-ups and the work of nonprofit organizations like Allegheny CleanWays, Friends of the Riverfront, Operation Better Block, and more; and
WHEREAS, still, the City has received 1,107 reports of litter to its 311 Response Line from January 1, 2021 until August 18, 2021, as well as 509 reports of illegal dumpsites during that same time period; and,
WHEREAS, events like the annual City-wide Garbage Olympics clean-up competition collect real-time data to show the state of trash in Pittsburgh which in 2020 included 670 tires, 254 covered devices (TV's and computers), 12 shopping carts, 6 couches, 5 refrigerators and more than 1,129 bags of trash as collected by 774 volunteers across 38 neighborhoods; and,
WHEREAS, further still, the City has begun to map known and recurring dumpsites-more than 859 as of August, 2021-- and has also empowered the collection and identification of 17, 461 pieces of litter since introduction of its Litterati app license in 2020; and,
WHEREAS, clean-ups alone are not enough to keep Pittsburgh clean; and,
WHEREAS, the City hired in an Anti Litter Specialist in 2019 to complement the work of the City's Environmental Enforcement Coordinator; and,
WHEREAS, the Anti Litter Specialist led the City along with the Clean Pittsburgh Commission to set forth a Goals on Littering & Dumping (GOL...
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