Nesquehoning officials remind residents that trash should not stay on curbs, other than scheduled weekly pickup days.

Last week, borough council spoke about the recent uptick in the amount of residential trash being kept on curbs or in front of homes on days other than the trash days.

Councilwoman Lois Kuba said some residents have been letting their trash sit at the curb all week.

An example of construction material sitting outside a property for two weeks was also given.

Councilwoman Suzanne Smith said that this also comes down to enforcing the borough’s ordinances.

Kuba suggested addressing the issue with the police and providing addresses so officers could follow up on these matters.

She added that the borough did go to a bulk item pickup twice a month so mattresses and larger items can get taken away more frequently. However, they should not remain outside the property until the night before trash day. Bulk item pickup is now the first and third Wednesdays of the month for the borough.

“There’s no reason that this stuff is sitting on people’s properties,” Kuba said, adding that the borough has complaint forms that residents can fill out at the borough office. The forms are then given to police to look into further.

“They have to be taken care of,” Kuba said. “There is no excuse to have these properties looking like this.”

In a related matter, Councilwoman Mary Fox responded to Facebook posts about the garbage fee increase.

She reminded residents that the trash contract for the borough nearly doubled in cost with the new contract, from $1.9 million for five years to over $3 million for a five-year contract. Tamaqua Transfer was the only company to submit a bid for the contract, so the borough had minimal options.

“We can’t make companies come in and give us a bid,” she said.

Fox said council prepared for the increase the year before the contract expired, because they knew it would be going up based on other rates.

They included a $5 per month increase on trash bills in 2024, as well as shifted $5 a month on resident bills from sewer to sanitation funds.

“I would just like people to realize that we’re not putting these fees on because we feel like it,” she said. “(Garbage collection) went up a million and a half dollars.”

Smith added that in comparison to other towns that had new contracts recently, Nesquehoning was able to provide smaller increases in the resident bills.

“We really do strive to accommodate with what we can, when we can,” she said.