Trash has long been a hot topic in Oakland.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
Complaints of litter-ridden streets<\/a> and delayed pickups<\/a> in Oakland have been consistent for years, with students<\/a> and residents<\/a> noting the problem for the last three decades<\/a>. Oakland Planning and Development Corporation<\/a> staff said student residents contribute most to the issue, but it may not be on purpose.<\/p>\n Andrea Boykowycz, executive director of the OPDC, is a longtime Oakland resident who said the garbage plight is nothing new.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Boykowycz, Oakland\u2019s trash issue dates back to at least the 1970s. The City\u2019s first Oakland plan<\/a> outlined how to improve and address problems within the community and eventually led to the creation of the OPDC, Boykowycz said.<\/p>\n \u201cTrash has been a perennial problem here for as long as I can remember in different ways, in different capacities,\u201d Boykowycz said. \u201cIt was one of the things that was first noted in the very first Oakland plan that was published in 1979.\u201d<\/p>\n Though student residents generate much of the trash throughout the streets, Boykowycz said the main issues are a lack of sufficient trash and recycling cans or \u201cinadequate containerization.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt isn\u2019t that students are slobs,\u201d Boykowycz said. \u201cGarbage cans have the tendency to not have lids, they tip over, raccoons get into them, they tear open the bags, stuff gets strewn all over the street, the wind blows everything everywhere \u2014 and that is the bulk of the trash that you see on the street.\u201d<\/p>\n Mackenzie Gutberlet, a sophomore bioengineering major, said, as an out-of-state student, it\u2019s important for her to \u201cgive back\u201d to the Pittsburgh community by taking care of the environment.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really conscientious about how I treat the environment \u2014 seeing litter on the streets, I\u2019ll try to pick it up, and I\u2019m really adamant about recycling,\u201d Gutberlet said. \u201cIt\u2019s a passion that I have. If I can continue to do [cleanups], I will.\u201d<\/p>\n Gutberlet lives in central Oakland, where she sees plenty of litter on the streets, especially in alleyways between houses. Gutberlet said many of her neighbors don\u2019t seem to understand or \u201ccare\u201d about trash etiquette.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople will leave their trash cans out on the curb, and then the wind will blow them over, trash will be everywhere [and] people will leave whatever\u2019s fallen out of their trash cans on the street,\u201d Gutberlet said. \u201cI feel like some people just don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n The majority of residents in Oakland are students at nearby universities with short-term leases. Lizabeth Gray, OPDC\u2019s community liaison, said trash education is more difficult because of the constant turnover, which means there is a new student \u201caudience\u201d who needs to learn their responsibilities as renters each year.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes, once you get somebody trained into something, then all of a sudden, they\u2019ll go off to another job,\u201d Gray said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of the same thing here.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Boykowycz, the OPDC often receives complaints from Oakland residents about neighbors who don\u2019t take proper care of their garbage cans. She said accumulated litter can also cause health concerns<\/a> and public hazards<\/a> for pedestrians.<\/p>\n \u201cThe trash that accumulates on the sidewalk in front of the steps of your house \u2014 it is your job to sweep that up,\u201d Boykowycz said. \u201cIf you\u2019re on crutches or if you are an old lady and you have a cane or if you have any other kind of instability, then navigating big obstacles on the sidewalk is really, really challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n Gray said she has seen improvement in Oakland litter over the last decade, but there are still fluctuations throughout the year. She said she typically sees more trash accumulating toward the end of winter and less during the summer, when there are fewer students in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the snow melting, we\u2019re seeing a lot [of trash],\u201d Gray said. \u201cWhen we get into the spring, you see all the daffodils and the tulips coming up, we see all the red cups coming up, and [at] about the same proportion.\u201d<\/p>\n Since 2018, the OPDC has teamed up with Pitt to create the largest volunteer team for Pittsburgh\u2019s annual Garbage Olympics<\/a>. Despite the Oakland team placing second in 2025<\/a>, Boykowycz said volunteers cannot collect as much waste as other neighborhoods\u2019 because the bulk of Oakland\u2019s trash is \u201csmall litter.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the most people, and we have never come close to winning for the amount of trash that gets picked up,\u201d Boykowycz said. \u201cThat\u2019s not because people are not doing their part \u2014 it\u2019s because the kind of trash that we have here is the kind that is blown all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n The OPDC has initiatives such as adopt-a-block cleanups<\/a> and renters resources<\/a> QR-code magnets<\/a>, but Gray said the most effective way for her to engage with student residents is through \u201cstreet talking.\u201d She recently had an encounter with a student in Central Oakland that helped her understand why there were scattered recyclables in the street.<\/p>\n \u201cI found out that they hadn\u2019t had their recycling picked up in over four weeks,\u201d Gray said. \u201cIn that way, I get the information that I can then pass on to the city, saying, \u2018Hey, is there some reason we haven\u2019t gotten a recycling pickup down on the 200 block of Zulema?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n