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WILKES-BARRE — If you want proof people are complying with the stay-at-home order during the coronavirus pandemic, municipal officials say look at the amount of garbage and recyclables placed at curbside for pickup.

Trucks are carting more to landfills and recycling centers, and depending upon the system in place, paying more to get rid of the junk from take-out orders and online shopping.

“Just from experience we’re picking up more,” said Wilkes-Barre’s Director of Operations Butch Frati, who oversees the Department of Public Works.

Whether it carries through the entire year remains to be seen as restrictions in place for more than a month to slow the spread of the virus are lifted and businesses forced to shut down reopen and people are allowed to return to work.

“It’s too early to tell,” Frati said Monday.

The topic came up during city council’s online meeting last week when Councilman Mike Belusko asked Frati about it.

“We’ve seen an uptick, late March all of April. It’s a significant number, somewhere around 19 to 20 percent higher now than it was this time last year,” Frati replied to Belusko.

The draft financial report for the first quarter, ending March 31, did not reflect the increased fees and Frati said it would take between a week to 10 days from the end of the month of April to compile the updated figures.

This year the city budgeted $500,000 in tipping fees at the Keystone Sanitary Landfill in Lackawanna County. For the first quarter, the city paid $103,497 compared to $106,100 last year, according to the draft report.

Recycling fees were higher in the year-over-year comparison, however. The city budgeted $175,000 in tipping fees to Northeast Cartage in Hanover Township. For the first three months of this year, the city paid $54,598 in fees compared to $37,737, according to the draft report.

Residents in Wilkes-Barre must purchase official city bags for their trash and that should offset the increased tipping fees, Frati said. They pay a flat fee of $50 a year for recycling.

Again, the draft report did not have up-to-date data.

The city budgeted $1.7 million in revenue from the garbage bags. It brought in $194,650 for the first quarter, much less than the $338,812 for the same period last year, according to the draft report.

Recycling fee revenue was barely higher than last year, $20,510 in 2020 compared to $20,229 in 2019, according to the draft report. The city budgeted $725,000 for the fee this year.

Neighboring Hanover Township is also seeing an increase in its collections. Manager Samuel Guesto Jr. said garbage collections jumped to more than 100 tons a week from approximately 80 tons and 16 tons in recycling from 11 tons.

“We’re different in that we include these pick-ups in our municipal services and do not have a pay-per-bag or garbage sticker system so its really hitting our expense line,” Guesto said.

Pittston crews are spending more time on the streets with their collections, added David Hines, the Director of Operations for the city.

“Recycling used to fill half of one truck. Today it took two trucks,” Hines said.

Much of it is cardboard from people shopping online and spending their stimulus checks from the federal government, Hines said.

Pittston does not do single stream recycling like Wilkes-Barre and separates out the cardboard that offsets the cost of collecting the other recyclables. “We’re not paying to get rid of it yet,” Hines said.

But Hines wondered about the long term. “Some of this is going to permanently change behavior,” he said as people who were reluctant to shop online before the pandemic see how convenient it is.

Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.