Newark launches night recycling pilot, administration cites equipment and staffing upgrades

The Newark City Council heard Sept. 9 that the Department of Public Works is running a pilot to shift residential recycling pickup to late-night hours and is making equipment and staffing changes aimed at improving collection and street cleanliness.

Interim Department of Public Works Director Kareem Madine said the pilot has crews beginning collection about 10 p.m. the night before scheduled pickup to help crews move through streets more easily and reduce daytime street congestion. “We have about 25 trucks a day that go out to pick up recycling at night,” Madine said, and the pilot is in its third week with “about 80% so far” of expected pickups occurring as planned.

Madine said equipment remains an issue: eight electric trucks the city ordered are delayed while the vendor adjusts transmissions; five full-size recycling trucks were purchased last year, six smaller trucks were purchased this year, and the city also bought a front-loader recycling truck. He said the city is sending staff to Jackson, Miss., to review an earlier fleet deployment there before taking delivery of the remaining electric trucks.

Council members raised questions about downtown businesses and smaller blocks. Madine said businesses downtown generally must contract for private pickup and that sanitation inspectors were reassigned to DPW two weeks earlier and would target persistent downtown offenders. He said the administration has reintroduced a supervisor “sweep” to pick up residual material and to deploy sanitation inspectors and enforcement where materials are left out on the wrong day.

Madine described a planned public-information campaign: bilingual mailers that list zones and pickup days, a QR code linking to a webpage where residents can enter an address and see their collection schedule, billboards and TV channel notices. He asked council members to share the brochure once it is finalized.

On equipment counts and targets, Madine said the city owns about 50 garbage trucks but only about 36 are operable now; the plan is to add about 15 more operable trucks. He said the city has 11 street sweepers total, six currently working and three in the shop, and the goal is 15 operational sweepers plus two spares. He also said the administration has budgeted to buy additional sweepers pending bond approvals.

Council members asked about enforcement, damaged recycling bins and festival cleanup costs. Madine said trucks are now fitted with cameras to monitor crews and that the city will work to hold employees accountable for damaging city property. He said festival cleanup is handled with a mix of overtime and regular time and that DPW provides estimated event costs to the administration before events; those costs are typically invoiced to sponsors when appropriate.

Madine also reiterated that cardboard and bottles must be placed out on the correct days, and that the city will provide literature and have supervisors and inspectors notify residents when collections are staged incorrectly. He said the administration is coordinating with engineering and code enforcement on permitted large containers and dumpsters that appear in public rights-of-way.

The presentation followed public comment and earlier business and drew questions from several council members; no formal council action on the sanitation plan was recorded in the transcript.

Residents and council members will receive the finalized mailer and electronic brochure when the DPW communications materials are released.