Vandergrift officials propose new restrictions on trash, household furnishings

Vandergrift residents might soon have fewer options for what trash items they can kick to the curb.

Last month, Vandergrift Council unanimously agreed to have borough Solicitor Larry Loperfito draft legal papers to allow for changes to the borough’s trash ordinance.

The proposed ordinance was made public during Tuesday’s meeting and is expected to be approved at the next council meeting in July.

Vandergrift Councilwoman Marilee Kessler cited rising landfill costs and heavy furniture as two reasons for the changes.

Borough manager Steve DelleDonne said the borough is charged $48 per ton to dispose of its garbage at the landfill.

Concerns about fleas, bed bugs, lice and disease were other reasons cited for changing the ordinance.

“Upholstery can harbor bugs,” said Vandergrift Councilwoman Christine Wilson, who chairs the borough’s streets and sanitation committee. “We are doing this, first and foremost, for the safety of the borough sanitation crew.”

Another concern is that heavy furniture has been known to damage the compactors inside the borough’s garbage trucks, Wilson said.

Joyce Hanz | Tribune-Review

A bedbug-infested mattress was left outside in October next to an empty apartment building on Lowell Street in Vandergrift.

Prohibited items include sewage and body waste, building and construction rubbish, any furniture regardless of size (including upholstered, bolstered or otherwise constructed of fabric or fabriclike materials), appliances, dead animals, machinery, vehicles or parts of vehicles, and any other item that is not commonly produced in homes. These items cannot be placed or remain at collection locations.

Violators could face fines of $300 to $1,000 and imprisonment for no more than 30 days.

Residents react

Eric Mikula, 53, owner of Sweet Lane Chocolate Shop in Vandergrift, said he supports the borough’s proposed ordinance to stop collecting large furniture.

“They shouldn’t have to deal with it,” he said.

Vandergrift residents pay an $81-per-quarter sanitation fee.

The furniture left at the curb often is too heavy for the sanitation workers to carry on their own. It sometimes is infested with bugs or stained with unknown fluids.

Mikula said he has seen furniture stained with urine and has moved furniture himself in order to help the sanitation department in his community.

Under the proposed ordinance, residents will have to pay private trash removal companies to collect the prohibited items.

Kessler said one company available to residents is Bailey’s Junk Removal in Vandergrift.

The minimum charge at Bailey’s to remove furniture in the area is $95, owner Joshua Bailey said.

“So a couch removal and disposal would be $95,” Bailey said.

Natalie Laero, 32, of Jackson Avenue said she previously placed a couch at the curb for disposal. She said Wednesday that she is opposed to the proposed ordinance change.

“The expectation is, now we have to spend more money to get rid of our things,” Laero said. “We already pay a trash fee. It’s kind of shocking. That’s really devastating.

“My husband and I have been talking about moving out of the area, and this may potentially encourage that even more and possibly sooner.”

David Callen, a Vandergrift resident for 20 years, expressed a different opinion, saying he didn’t blame the borough for proposing the changes.

He said he has never put out any large furniture to be collected, but that “it’s going to hurt a lot of people.”

The furniture can clutter the streets quickly, Callen said. Before trash day arrives, it “looks like hell to see the couches in the alleyway,” he said.

Joyce Hanz and Haley Moreland are Tribune-Review staff writers. You can contact Joyce at 724-226-7725, jhanz@triblive.com or via Twitter @hanz_joyce. You can contact Haley at 724-224-4681 or hmoreland@triblive.com.