Afton Giles Reappointed to Clean Pittsburgh Commission; Officials Press for ‘Gold Plan’ Funding

Afton Giles, principal planner of sustainability and resilience for the City of Pittsburgh, told City Council members during a pre-agenda interview April 9 that she supports reappointment to the Clean Pittsburgh Commission and urged steady funding and staffing to address chronic litter and illegal dumping.

The commission, Giles said, began as a volunteer group and has grown into a formal advisory body with a modest budget that helps coordinate cleanups, education and grant work across neighborhoods. “The litter problem in Pittsburgh is almost chronic,” Giles said, adding that the commission and partner nonprofits rely heavily on volunteers and have had limited enforcement capacity.

Giles told the standing committee she has served two terms as the commission’s treasurer and that the group’s Community of Focus program has targeted cleanups in Homewood, the Hill District and Hazelwood and plans to move into the West End. The commission has helped develop grant applications and a regional waste strategy, and it runs an annual Garbage Olympics followed by the Bob Awards to recognize local cleanup efforts.

Why it matters: Council members said they want a path from planning to on-the-ground work. Councilwoman Theresa Ward pressed Giles on how the commission could expand education and enforcement in schools and neighborhoods and asked whether the body had recommendations for city agencies. “I would kind of love to see DPW treat litter the same way that we treat snow and weeds,” Ward said, arguing for a seasonal, crew-based approach to litter removal.

Giles said the commission helped draft what is known as the Gold Plan, a multi-year proposal for a dedicated staffing and operations model to tackle litter citywide. She said the plan’s authors included city and community representatives and that implementation has stalled in part because resourcing and organizational changes are needed. She noted enforcement staffing for illegal dumping had been one person for the city until a recent hire brought the count to two.

Councilwoman Rebecca Strasburger, referencing past policy work, asked whether the commission could track state legislative opportunities to update Act 101, Pennsylvania’s recycling law, so the city could pursue changes that facilitate recycling, reuse and regional planning. Giles said the commission could help prioritize a short list of policy items for council to take to Harrisburg.

Giles discussed specific operational steps the commission favors: more consistent DPW crews or a dedicated environmental services crew, stronger enforcement and follow-through on citations, education in schools and neighborhoods, and incentives for property owners to secure lids on trash and recycling containers. She also urged measures to reduce equipment downtime at recycling centers by discouraging plastic bags in curbside recycling.

The pre-agenda interview concluded with members thanking Giles; the chair said Giles’s formal appointment will come to a council vote next week.

Notes: The commission’s annual operating budget was described in the interview as limited (Giles said “$30,000 does not go very far”). The commission’s Community of Focus program, enforcement staffing levels, and the Garbage Olympics/Bob Awards were discussed in detail.