Granted, the city's population has declined modestly over the years, but the number of streets the department is responsible for - 2,500 miles - has remained the same, and the amount of trash has decreased only slightly.
How has the department done it?
Spurred by necessity, it's used technology and made smart strategic choices. But even before the ravages of the current recession, the Streets Department had to find a way to make due with less.
Elimination of a federally funded public-sector jobs program in the late 1970s, prior recessions and 16 years of tax cuts have a taken a toll on the Streets budget. Higher wages, pensions and health-care costs have left less money to hire new employees. And the rising cost of the criminal-justice system has diverted money to police, prisons, courts and the district attorney.
While the library, police and fire have strong constituencies to watch their backs during budget battles, Streets has had to fend for itself.
In short, it was forced to find better ways to collect trash and tend the city streets with fewer hands on deck.
One of those ways was better use of technology. For example, the department began deploying larger trucks years ago. This lets it collect more trash per truck with the same three-man crews. The increased capacity has resulted in greater productivity, fewer trucks and trash runs - and thus fewer sanitation workers.
More recently, the department applied this same concept of increased capacity to its trash cans. Technology has given rise to the solar-operated compactors that now populate Center City streets. The 475 compactors handle not only trash but recyclables, too. Each has a capacity of 200 gallons, compared with the 60-gallon capacity of the 700 litter baskets they replaced.
