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Newark shifts recycling pickup to evenings and launches multilingual outreach
Summary
Director of Public Works announced a citywide change to recycling collection hours (6 p.m.–2 a.m.), multilingual flyers and community meetings to inform residents, and a temporary hold on fines during the education period.
The Newark Department of Public Works will change recycling collection to an evening schedule running from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., Director of DPW Tyreke Golan told the council on Jan. 22. The city said it would publish multilingual flyers, hold community meetings by ward beginning next month and run a Facebook Live with the mayor to explain the new schedule.
Tyreke Golan said the city finalized outreach materials in four languages — English, Spanish, Portuguese and French — and that they would be routed through communications for approval and distribution. He said the first public education events would begin next month and he will appear with the mayor on Facebook Live at 4:45 p.m. the same day to explain the change.
Council members raised practical concerns about the new window. Councilman Ramos asked whether residents who must leave for work before 6 p.m. may put recycling out in the morning; Golan said residents may place recycling out earlier but warned that actual pickup may occur late in the evening. Golan said the administration instructed sanitation inspectors and code officers not to issue violations while education and outreach are being rolled out.
Council members and residents also raised issues specific to cardboard: large stacks of boxes can spread in wind and obstruct sidewalks or roadways. Golan told the council that crews have been directed to pick up loose cardboard and other material if they see it during routes.
Several council members who noted missed pickups during the first-night rollout pressed for clear, published guidance about allowable placement times (for example, whether residents could place recycling out at 6 a.m. the same day) and for advance notice of any changes to alternate-side parking or street-sweep schedules.
Golan said the city will provide a clear zone-by-zone schedule for cardboard and for bottles and cans, and will distribute the flyers and electronic notifications before enforcement begins. No ordinance vote took place at the pre-meeting; the administration intends to present the recycling-related ordinance to council the first week of February.
