City of Reading, Pennsylvania - Public Works

· Trash shall not be stored within the Public right-of-way and shall only be placed within the public right-of-way for collection purposes, after 8:30 pm the day before the scheduled collection. Containers shall be removed from the public right-of-way by 8:00 pm the day of scheduled collection.

· Any person or entity found to be in violation of any provision of this ordinance shall be guilty of a summary criminal office, and shall upon first conviction, be fined a minimum of fifty ( $ 50.00 ).

· The goal of this program is to ensure that all properties have trash collection services, enhance codeenforcement and to improve the cleanliness of our neighborhoods by ensuring that every property owner takes responsibility for the maintenance of their property.

What recyling materials are collected?

The City of Reading’s mandatory curbside recycling program began in October of 1990 collecting seven recyclable materials including: newspapers, all colors of glass, tin and aluminum cans, #1 and #2 plastic. In January of 1996, the City expanded our curbside recycling program to include all types of plastic bottles and containers, as well as, mixed paper which includes the following: Junk mail, fax paper, tablet paper, copy paper, file folders, construction paper, wrapping and tissue paper, paperback books, magazines, phone books, catalogues, gift boxes and corrugated boxes. In an effort to control contamination from entering our paper stream, as well as, addressing our growing litter problem, Kraft paper bags are provided to our residents for the set out and collection of their paper materials.

The City also operates a Christmas Tree Recycling program each year. This program has been operating in excess of thirty years and is operated by our Parks Department. Two drop-off locations are set up each year starting on Christmas Day and running through mid-February. Over 5,000 trees per year are collected through this program which are chipped up and used for clean cover throughout our parks system.

City crews currently conduct leaf collection programs throughout the City servicing approximately 30,000 homes and businesses during the spring and fall months, as required by City Ordinance. These leaves are composted on City owned property on Mt. Penn. The end product is used in the City gardens, as well as for top dressing on numerous city parks.

The City operates a leaf composting facility on Mt. Penn and in addition stores large yard waste (i.e. stumps, logs) at a separate site. This material is chipped and mixed in with our leaf waste, and used as a bulking agent.

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