Pittsburgh City Council heard from residents on Wednesday about trash and litter in neighborhoods and what the city can do about it.

Councilman Bob Charland chaired a public hearing about the state of trash in the city. He says trash is a problem in the city that is often overlooked, saying that while the Department of Public Works does pick up trash, it is a low priority for it.

"I really want us to make sure that we are laser-focused on this as an issue," said Charland, explaining he wanted to hear what the biggest problems are and the ideas some have to clean up the city.

Most of the speakers at the meeting are heavily involved as volunteers, working to pick up trash around the city. Some call themselves "trash nabbers."

"Never in my entire life have I seen Pittsburgh and all its surroundings as over with free-range manufactured waste as it currently is," said one speaker. 

"It's really disappointing to see how careless people have been about trash," another said.

One speaker claimed to have picked up tons of trash on Pittsburgh's North Side over the years. Another speaker said they get their kids involved. 

"Our family growth chart isn't marked on a door frame. It's an album full of pictures of my kids standing next to mounds of trash that were hauled out of Pittsburgh public spaces," one mother said. 

"Litter doesn't just hurt property values, it hurts public health," one woman added. 

Picking up trash is something they all take pride in, but say it is something they should not have to do. They explained they are too often alone in the effort.

"Too much heavy lifting is being put on the backs of volunteers and smaller nonprofits," said one speaker.

Charland agreed.

"We, as a city, need to take more ownership of this," Charland said. "We don't ask volunteers to pave our streets or fix our bridges, but we do ask volunteers to solve our trash solutions."

The hearing was organized, in part, to hear ideas. 

"An idea that I really like, although I'm not sure it's feasible, is being able to distribute trash cans citywide to residents," Charland said.

It was an idea brought up by multiple speakers.

Another speaker mentioned the need to invest in a local transfer station to address illegal dumping. One speaker mentioned fixing glitches in the city's technology for reporting trash to make sure it actually gets cleaned up.

Councilperson Barb Warwick also spoke, saying the city has a large DPW workforce and it needs to be mobilized in a more effective way. She suggested that the same workers assigned for months at a time to snow and then potholes should be assigned to pick up trash in the fall.

"If we can plow every street in the city, we should be able to, in a 24-hour period, in over a six-month period, be able to drive through and hand-pick litter on every street," Warwick said. 

She added that the city also needs a dedicated team to help pick up trash.

KDKA asked Charland if the public should expect any concrete solutions to come out of this. He said he was not sure if a legislative solution is possible, but it is something the council will look at with his team and others soon. 

"I want to live in a community that is clean and healthy and not have to daily walk around littered streets, see trash in my rivers," said one speaker. "Mother Nature does so much for us, and we should have a collective effort to do better." 

• Pittsburgh