Garbage pickup and recycling issues continue to plague Walnutport.

Councilwoman Jen Wentz told borough council on Thursday that the situation needs to be improved.

“We’ve been receiving garbage complaints,” Wentz said. “We need to increase and improve communication, which really hasn’t occurred.”

Wentz said the matter is of real concern.

“There are days when entire blocks and streets have been missed,” she said. “They would come back maybe the next day.”

Councilwoman Patrice Hunsicker said, “They’re out there sometimes until like 7.”

Mayor Wayne Weidner chimed in on the matter.

“I think the only problem is they’re collecting Slatington and us on the same day,” Weidner said.

Hunsicker said the current situation is unacceptable.

“I’m upset with the recycling situation,” she said. “From talking to people in town, they’re just going to start throwing their cardboard into the garbage.”

Wentz said they “can’t pick and choose what recyclables they want to pick up.”

Borough grant coordinator Michael Wentz said the borough’s numbers last year dropped in recyclable commodities.

Michael Wentz specifically pointed to the Section 904 Recycling Program Performance Grant that the borough has benefited from.

“I don’t want to see revenue get thrown away,” Wentz said. “It’s revenue on the grants that’s concerning.”

Council then debated whether recycling should occur every week instead of biweekly.

Councilman Michael Gaston said he believes that could be the remedy.

“I think if we do it every week, it might put our numbers back up,” Gaston said. “If it goes back to weekly, it’s just going to help our numbers; I think it’s going to keep us at bay, or better.”

However, Gaston said doing so would end up costing residents more.

“I think we will have some angry people,” Gaston said.

Regardless, Michael Wentz said the borough is required to recycle.

“We are mandated to recycle,” he said. “Eventually, all the landfills are going to be full.”

Hunsicker said that from the start, they were accepting recycling, but only what’s in the cans, and that if it isn’t in the can, they don’t get out and pick it up.

Jen Wentz said the situation needs to be rectified.

“This is a four-year contract,” she said. “I don’t want this to be a four-year ordeal.”

Last month Jen Wentz said there was a meeting with County Waste to address garbage pickup and recycling issues they were encountering.

In September, council awarded a four-year contract to County Waste in the amount of $695,640 from 2021-2024.

The borough received just one other bid, from Tamaqua Transfer and Recycling, which had been the borough’s trash hauler, in the amount of $717,820.

Jen Wentz noted at that time that the bid quotes were a combination of collection and transporting, yearly landfill solid waste disposal cost, and recyclables.

Before that decision, several residents asked council to consider a new trash hauler.

The borough has been plagued with complaints from the community concerning garbage and recycling pickup for some time.

Council hired Tamaqua Transfer in 2017 to save money and improve customer service for residents.

Due to the change in companies, collection day was changed from Wednesday to Monday morning with every other Monday slated for recycling pickup.