Towers of Waste: Newark, NJ Growing Trash Problem, 1940’s to 2025

This video story will go over the trash issue in Newark New Jersey and what the people of Newark have done to help. I hope it will shed some light on what a terrible thing it is for this beautiful city to be marred by such a terrible issue.  

Introduction

On the early, sunny day of May 22nd, 2017, a large group of volunteers descended on the Street of Mt. Prospect Avenue to relieve the trash ridden street. As the sun rose and glistened in the sky, its rays shone on the volunteers as if they were angels that came to save the residents of the street from dereliction. At the end of the day, volunteers collected over 60 trash bags of garbage that had clogged Mt. Prospect Avenue. The people in the town were grateful to the volunteers for cleaning their street. This group of heroic volunteers was organized by the Homeowners and Merchants Association of North Newark which is a community organization that cleans up neighborhoods.[i]

The fact that the community had to clean up their own street instead of the sanitation department brings up a pressing matter. The trash issue in Newark has been apparent for multiple decades, with little activity to combat it. Newark is a very diverse community, with a large percentage of African Americans making up 44% of its population Latinos with around 39%.[ii] Because trash is such a large issue in Newark there have been multiple community efforts by the residents to clean up the city. These community efforts have been performed before and after the reform of the Department of Public Works, DPW. These include cleaning the Passaic River, cleaning up Mt. Prospect Avenue, etc. For Mt. Prospect Avenue, the Homeowners and Merchants Association of North Newark, who had organized the cleanup, worked with the mayor’s office to clean these areas after the reform instead of the Department of Public Works doing their supposed job.

Some questions someone would ask about this would be why is there still an issue? Why wasn’t it correct after the reform? Why is this trash issue in Newark but not across the river in New York? The sanitation department of the past few decades has gone through various changes and reforms and throughout all of these reforms and before, the Department of Public Works has been neglecting the people of Newark in what I believe is because of the residents of Newark and minorities and low income making them easier targets of neglect.

This paper will go over the history of the DPW with the people of Newark, as well as the sanitation departments. Before the 2016 reform, while going over the Lincoln Park cleanup. Following that would be the reform of the sanitation department, what the reform was intended to do and how it was reformed. Finally, it would be after the reform of the sanitation department in 2016, the aftermath of the sanitation department’s reform and why the problem persisted; providing examples with the 4^th of July bulk pick up issues and the cleanup of Mt. Prospect Avenue in further detail.

Background of Newark and the DPW

Newark is a beautiful and diverse city in the Northern part of New Jersey bustling with business, life, and attractions. A city that holds a multitude of banks, theatres, parks, restaurants, and malls. Though how did the city get to the condition it is in now? To do this we must go back to the early 20^th century. In the early 20^th century Newark used to be a predominantly White city. During the 1920’s, the population of Newark had a shift from wealthy White citizens who moved to the suburbs, to working immigrants and African Americans. This had unfortunately led to a void of the tax base that had funded the city of Newark. Over the past couple of decades to the mid-1960s, African Americans were the majority of Newark though White Americans still had most of the power in Newark.[iii] The circumstances for African Americans in Newark were inevitably appalling; police brutality and poor housing conditions led to a boiling point in 1967 with riots erupting all over Newark. This was due to two officers pulling over John Smith, a Black taximan on July 12^th, 1967. The harassment of John Smith from the cops led to a fit of rage from John who was then detained and arrested for resisting arrest. This arrest and the following riots had shown a demand for change in government.[iv] In the early 1980’s, after the riots, the rate of poverty in Newark was around 33%.[v] This would make the city lose a substantial portion of its budget and could insinuate that the budget would neglect the sanitation department. Newark’s government would continue to lose revenue and not improve quality of life for its residents. This would continue into the new millennium as in 2006 Cory Booker commissioned an audit for Newark where “… revealed that Newark had lost out on $80 million in tax revenue due to mismanagement and incompetence.” One of the examples Howell brings up is that the city ceased attempts to acquire unpaid water bills and around 10% of the bills sent to the residents were undeliverable.[vi] This loss of revenue meant Newark’s government had to cut corners to gain a profit. Which cemented a directive in the Booker administration, saving money.

While Cory Booker’s plan was to save the city from financial doom, a few of his actions were dubious. In his 2010 proposal plan Booker announced in August that he would cut 220 of the 251 sanitation workers and outsource their jobs by November. Removing 220 of the sanitation workers’ jobs and outsourcing it would remove opportunities for the already mostly low-income residents of Newark further pushing them down into poverty. Without doubt, there was outrage with over 100 of the workers protesting on the front lawn of City Hall demanding that their jobs not be outsourced just to make a measly $1.1 million in revenue.[vii] Unfortunately, their protesting was in vain as on September 28th 2010 notices were sent to 2,200 workers in civil service that their jobs may be cut. Nj.com with the Star-Ledger reported that “Neighborhood and Recreational Services, the umbrella department that oversees sanitation, is slated for 395 layoffs, the most of any city department.”[viii] Not only would the layoffs affect trash collection it would affect 2,200 residents of Newark and push them further into poverty as they would need to find another job.

The Department of Public Works’ duty of collecting trash was carried out by the Department of Engineering, through the office of Inspection, and the Department of Recreational and Neighborhood services. The Department of Engineering would conduct inspections for Uniform Construction Code, Fire safety code and also sanitation inspections.[ix] While the Department of Recreational and Neighborhood services, also known as the Department of Recreation, Cultural Affairs and senior services, focused on the operation and upkeep of recreation centers such as fields and passive parks.[x] The two departments would attempt to keep the city clean but would not be enough to defeat the trash issue. The noticeable failure of trash collection from both departments would plant a seed for an eventual reform of sanitation to aid the people who call Newark their home.

Before the Reform of the Department of Public Works

Before the reform of the sanitation department in 2016 there were, unsurprisingly, a multitude of problems with Newark’s sanitation. With streets being overrun by trash as far as the eye can see. Of course, the sanitation department would not care for the residents as they should. This meant that the brave residents had to put matters into their own hands and repair their trash ridden streets, their neighborhoods, and even their rivers. A photo from 2009 in a specific area of the Ironbound, a neighborhood in Newark, was able to capture the severity of the trash issue. Before the reform of the Department of Public Works. This photo was uploaded to Alamy, a stock photo website, on August 14 2021 and was taken on September 7^th 2009 by Frances Roberts.[xi] The first aspect of this image would be the two men in the picture. The two men are two different races. The one walking up to the photographer is a White man who has a frown on his face and the one in the back leaning on the shop is a Hispanic man who seems to be unbothered. This is a stark contrast as I would assume the White man is not from Newark since he seems bothered by the trash as well as him having his shirt tucked in meaning he may be going to a nice restaurant later. The Hispanic man seems to be unbothered by the trash on the sidewalk as if it’s normal, insinuating that he lives in the Ironbound neighborhood as well since the Newark area is a majority of Latino heritage and. To me the complete difference between the two men shows that there’s a disconnect between someone who lives there and one who does not. Possibly that the White man sees an injustice because he is privileged to not experience such neglect for his race, while the Hispanic man does not think anything of it as a result of systematic racism and disrespect higher-powers.

The second aspect of the picture is the new trash on the existing trash pile. The reason why there’s a focus on the new trash is due to the allusion that it could be just more problems being added to the pile of overwhelming problems in the day to day lives of Newark residents. This new trash was most likely from people who were from Newark signifying that they saw their struggle for a clean street to be hopeless when the sanitation department skipped their area. This means that it will be a never-ending cycle that can only be broken by the sanitation department and that the residents of Newark will always be pushed down by the trash that even people not from Newark drop on the ground as well. This trash pile could impact the residents of Newark in another way which is where the trash pile is, being on the sidewalk of the street; blocking a parking meter and giving a clear indication that the sanitation department does not care about the Ironbound neighborhood or the city of Newark because the garbage pile is right on government property.

What is interesting about the trash piles left on the sidewalk in the Ironbound neighborhood is that under a certain act the city of Newark should be held under the Solid Waste Management and its 326 amendments created in 1975.[xii] “’the Legislature, therefore, declares that it is the policy of this State to … Encourage resource recovery through the development of systems to collect, separate, recycle and recover metals, glass, paper and other materials of value for reuse or for energy production.’” Under this act the NJDEP, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, found that 15 of the 21 counties in New Jersey had failed to improve trash collection or implement Chapter 326 and were sued by the NJDEP.[xiii] Out of these 15 counties, Essex County was not one of them. Implying that the trash collection in Essex County was adequate in the eyes of the NJDEP.

With Essex County’s “adequate” trash collection, the city government of Newark would not need to worry about improving trash collection when in reality it desperately needed an improvement. That is where the residents of Newark would have to step in and clean up areas that the sanitation department would not. The residents had created community organizations, like the Homeowners and Merchants Association of North Newark and Ironbound Community Corporation, and began to host community cleanups fighting to keep their community clean. Speaking of the Ironbound, the community of the Ironbound is closest to the Passaic River and a core aspect of the neighborhood as well. The Passaic River, like Newark, is plagued with neglect and is tainted with trash in its banks. In a meeting for the Ironbound Community Corporation, ICC, organized a meeting around 2014 to talk about the Passaic River. This meeting held a diverse audience of school children, teachers, residents of the Ironbound, and even environmental activists. During the meeting, residents of Newark had expounded their experience living in the Ironbound as well as depicting their feelings on the Passaic River being a waste site. In the video school children stepped up to the microphone including Edward Pozo and Qua-mir Merril a school’s environmental justice leaders who both demanded that the Passaic be cleaned and that they would never swim in the river.[xiv] These brave school children who righteously demanded for justice displays that the next generation will continue the strenuous fight to keep their neighborhood clean.

In addition to the Ironbound, the Passaic River has also been affected. In the article from New Jersey Monthly explaining that this river has been the target of pollution for decades. Including a specific part of the Passaic, being Lister Avenue, was deemed to be toxic by Environmental officials over 30 years ago and was supposed to be cleaned. An interesting number comes up: “Big as the Lister Avenue project is… will cost an estimated $80 million to remove 40,000 cubic yards of muck…”[xv] That cost of $80 million is quite a coincidence as the audit in 2006 referenced earlier lost $80 million in revenue; the exact same cost. This specific part of the Passaic could have been cleaned up if not for the incompetence of Newark neglecting its residents and its people. Unfortunately, that section is a small part of the Passaic and the total clean up the Passaic would be substantially more costly. Due to the fact that the EPA thinks it could be 15 years after this event that the Passaic could be clean.[xvi] That is completely unacceptable and downright harming to the people of this city. Forcing the residents to organize and do what they must to safe their city.

Another area that has been cleaned up by the community of Newark was Lincoln Park. In 2015, the 13^th annual Lincoln Park cleanup called: “Slam Dunk the Junk”, was enacted. This cleanup was done by students in middle school and by the NJCCC, New Jersey Clean Community Council. “’This has become a great tradition in the City of Newark,’ said Mayor Ras Baraka. ‘For 13 years, it has showcased our determination to make our beloved Newark a cleaner city.’”[xvii] This would mean that Ras Baraka knew that in 2015 there needed to be a reform to officially create a sanitation department instead of two departments managing sanitation. This event is most likely the catalyst for the creation of the Department of Public Works.

The Reform and Creation of the Department of Public Works

The Department of Public Works was reformed on Jun 15^th ,2016 by consolidating the Department of Engineering and the Department of Neighborhood and Recreational services. As explained earlier, the Department of Engineering was to provide inspections and the Department of Neighborhood and Recreational services was to operate, and clean, public areas like parks and playgrounds. Since the Department of Public Works was practically two departments combined, it would need to have multiple divisions to not disrupt the flow of order in the city and to not overwhelm workers. The Department of Public Works is composed of five divisions, the Office of the Direction, Division of Motors, the Division of Parks, Grounds, and Shade Trees, the Division of Public Buildings, and most importantly, the Division of Sanitation.[xviii] The reform in the perspective of trash collection seemed like a no-brainer. A consolidation of two departments that did sanitation for certain aspects of the city seemed to be complicated whereas a single division for sanitation for any part of the city would be easier to manage.

People may now be wondering, what purpose did the reform of the Department of Public Works serve? Through a quick search on the internet, you would find that it was to improve trash collection upkeep. Though another question would be: if there was a reform where was the news coverage? The short answer is, there isn’t. That could mean that there was no reform or there was so little changed in the reform that the news outlets did not pick up on the story. The only documentation of the reform was a video from the city of Newark New Jersey municipal council that goes over new laws and amendments for Newark’s government. At 2 hours and 35 minutes the council votes on establishing the Department of Public Works which would rename the Department of Neighborhood and Recreational services to the aforementioned department.[xix] During this vote, not one council member had explained what the Department would do but said they had notes on it. The notes were not explained further because shortly after the speaker had asked if there were any objections. During the voting no one objected and someone responded with: No just move it. The lack of information that the public was given on this large amendment that would completely remove a department and could possibly bring rapid reform to two departments is disheartening and unjust.

In the municipal council meeting at 2 hours and 32 minutes the council members vote on an amendment to Solid Waste Management. This amendment was to add provisions to bulk pickup.[xx] What wasn’t stated in these provisions was limiting the bulk pickup to 10 items per pick up when it was not limited before. The limit to bulk pickup would take effect on October 1^st 2015. To avoid an outrage with the majority of Newark’s residents the Office of the Mayor had posted on the website Nextdoor to announce that they are limiting bulk pickup. I would like to note that the Office of the Mayor for Newark New Jersey has an X/Twitter account that was created in 2009. This fear was realized with all 10 comments on the very negative. One of these comments was by F.W. on September 27^th who wrote: “’What are we paying taxes for? So it went from twice a month to once per month. Now we can only sit out 10 items. How did this ordinance get passed? And we should’ve been given advance notice of this.’” Another comment that was made on this page by A.C on October 4^th was: “What high way robbery this new,seen when who decided this, were we notified by mail, was there a meeting with anyone is our community we pay enough taxes!!!” [xxi] This means that the ordinance was a direct attack on the residents of Newark and the government passed it to further tax the residents of Newark. It seems that Cory Booker’s focus isn’t exclusive to him as the people of Newark were blindsided by an intentional, greedy ordinance to squeeze of what small amount left that these poor people have to pad the pockets of the government officials.

After the Reform of the Department of Public Works and its Problems

With the almost nonexistent changes in the Department of Public Works that would help the residents of Newark, the city would again have to depend on its residents to act as their own sanitation department and organize community cleanups. An example of a community cleanup would be the community cleanup on Mt. Prospect Avenue that was discussed in the beginning. In yellow shirts, the volunteers had cleaned the street from 7 A.M. to the end of the day; giving their all to alleviate the street of the padded layers of trash. Something that was mentioned in the beginning was that the Homeowners and Merchants Association of North Newark were not alone in organizing the community cleanup; it was organized with City Council Members Anibal Ramos, Luis Quintana, and the mayor’s office. With John Gutierrez stating “’I don’t understand why the city doesn’t do more,’”[xxii] I am confident that John is not alone in this feeling. A community cleanup that worked with the mayor’s office should not have to happen if reform to sanitation was an improvement.

In time the failure of this reform would rear its ugly head and hurt the reputation of Newark as a trash ridden wasteland had its most recent example earlier this year in 2025. During the sweltering week after the 4^th of July residents of Newark had to bear the brunt of a putrid and accosting smell as the high heat and garbage mixed in the air left there for over a week. One would assume that the DPW would be competent enough to collect trash before one of the busiest holidays of the year, alas the DPW did not have the common sense to do so. The Department of Public Works had put out a notice on July 8^th stating that with the heat, trash collection would be delayed until 6 P.M. As per usual, the DPW did not pick up trash at 6 Pm and posted: “’Due to the Fourth of July weekend, the code red heat emergency yesterday and high bulk collection volume today, the sanitation division is experiencing delays in trash, recycling and bulk pickup,’” With these posts and delays the residents of Newark were understandably livid with the disrespect and utter neglect that they have been given. When residents were asked for comments on this disaster, West Ward resident Sheila Montague replied that “’Workers are now placing trash directly in the street, off the curb- maybe thinking it’ll make pick-up easier later,’”[xxiii] That would imply that the Department of Public Works is actively adding to the problem and most likely spitting in the faces of all residents who hope for a clean street. A terrible blunder of sheer incompetence to essentially say: “We don’t care about you or your problems, you don’t make us enough money so why should we help you?”

To play the Devil’s advocate, perhaps the issue of trash collection is due to strict regulations and not on the inability of the Department of Public Works, though highly unlikely. In the book, Garbage in the Garden State, the author Jordan Howell explains that a judge on the Keegan Landfill case with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, NJSEA, being sued by Kearny officials due to the landfill illegally dumping toxic waste into the landfill. This was after the Keegan Landfill signed a consent agreement with the NJDEP to submit environmental testing results more frequently as they have been lacking in that regard. “Judge Jablonski wrote: ‘The relief granted here is a temporary restraining order. This court finds … that immediate and irreparable harm will occur in the absence of the relief requested (for the continuous and unabated discharge of hydrogen sulfide), that the claim is based on a settled legal right that the Plaintiff (that seeks to protect the health its citizens) will suffer greater harm if the condition is not mitigated nor abated, than the protection of the solely financial interest of the Defendant [NJSEA] in the site.’”[xxiv] This decision had shut down the landfill in Kearny, quite literally a town over from Newark and would actually take trash from Newark before its closure. This would explain why there still is a problem with trash collection in Newark because one of Newark’s landfills was closed down and would understandably move to incinerators and other ways to dispose of trash.

Conclusion

The history of the sanitation department in Newark has been an utter disaster filled with incompetent government officials and a disgrace to the people of Newark from the greed of Cory Booker who wanted to outsource sanitation to current mayor Ras Baraka and the municipal council who limited the bulk pickup to 10 items. With the endless gut punches from their own government; the people of Newark organized and formed community cleanups and organizations to fight back against the relentless attacks they have to endure. As well as the NJDEP being unaware to the abuse of Newark’s residents and the city’s horrendous trash collection. Maybe in the future the government will utilize alternative ways to remove trash and benefit from it. There is a way that trash is converted to energy, being incinerators that come with a multitude of issues like the one in the Ironbound Neighborhood. Where “In February 1971, Mayor Gibson announced the city’s plan to construct and operate a ‘garbage recycling’ facility. The original plan was similar to the ‘industrial symbiosis’ behind eco-industrial parks: facilitating the waste from production process for input into another production process by locating likely users on or near the same site. The garbage recycling plant would have salvaged glass, paper, and metals from an estimated 3,600 tons of garbage per day.”[xxv] If there were more incinerators that were located in a remote place far from neighborhoods, the trash issue in Newark would be a lot less prevalent. If the incinerators were not being used, imagine how much more trash there would be on the streets and the outrage there would be. Not forgetting the fact that incinerators are a double-edged sword as they produce harmful toxins in the air and smog; if we were able to somehow filter those harmful toxins and particles out of the exhaust, Newark may be a cleaner place and a healthier place with incinerators moved away from the residents.

[i] Karen Yi, “Community Bands Together to Clean up Trash from Streets,” Infoweb, May 22, 2017, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&docref=news%2F1648C8B792FD4848&f=basic.

[ii] EJScreen, January 23, 2025, https://pedp-ejscreen.azurewebsites.net/.

[iii] Brad Tuttle, How Newark Became Newark, Ebook Central (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2009), https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/njit/reader.action?docID=435064&c=UERG&ppg=97, 87-88.

[iv] Brad Tuttle, How Newark Became Newark, Ebook Central (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2009), https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/njit/reader.action?docID=435064&c=UERG&ppg=97 , 142.

[v] Brad Tuttle, How Newark Became Newark, Ebook Central (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2009), https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/njit/reader.action?docID=435064&c=UERG&ppg=97, 212.

[vi] Brad Tuttle, How Newark Became Newark, Ebook Central (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2009), https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/njit/reader.action?docID=435064&c=UERG&ppg=97, 266.

[vii] David Giambusso, “Newark Sanitation Workers Demand Mayor Booker Reconsider Privatizing Jobs,” nj.com news, August 12, 2010, https://www.nj.com/news/2010/08/newark_sanitation_workers_prot.html.

[viii] Star-Ledger staff, “Newark Sends out Notifications to 2,200 Employees of Likely Job Eliminations,” nj.com, September 28, 2010, https://www.nj.com/news/2010/09/newark_sends_out_notificiation.html.

[ix] City of Newark, “City of Newark, NJ Department of Engineering,” Ecode360, City of Newark, NJ, accessed December 17, 2025, https://ecode360.com/36637776.

[x] City of Newark, “City of Newark, NJ: Department of Recreation, Cultural Affairs and senior services,” Ecode360, City of Newark, NJ, accessed December 17, 2025, https://ecode360.com/ 36637738.

[xi] Frances Roberts, “Ferry Street in the Ironbound Neighborhood of Newark NJ Stock Photo,” Ferry Street in the Ironbound neighborhood of Newark NJ, August 14, 2021, https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-ferry-street-in-the-ironbound-neighborhood-of-newark-nj-25795555.html.

[xii] Jordan P. Howell, Garbage in the Garden State (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2023), 58.

[xiii] Jordan P. Howell, Garbage in the Garden State (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2023), 62.

[xiv] “Newark Community Demands a Clean Passaic River Now!!!!!,” YouTube, November 29, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1VBZ12dwbs.

[xv] Anthony DePalma, “The Muck Stops Here,” New Jersey Monthly, February 13, 2012, https://njmonthly.com/articles/jersey-living/the-muck-stops-here/.

[xvi] Anthony DePalma, “The Muck Stops Here,” New Jersey Monthly, February 13, 2012, https://njmonthly.com/articles/jersey-living/the-muck-stops-here/.

[xvii] “NJCCC Joins in Newark’s 13th Annual ‘Slam Dunk the Junk’ at Lincoln Park,” Tapinto, October 8, 2015, https://www.tapinto.net/towns/newark.

[xviii] City of Newark, “City of Newark, NJ Department of Public Works” Ecode360, City of Newark, NJ, accessed December 17, 2025, https://ecode360.com/36640739

[xix] Municipal Council on 2016-06-15 6:30 pm – regular meeting – jun 15th, 2016, June 15, 2016, https://newark.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=200&meta_id=70148.

[xx] Municipal Council on 2016-06-15 6:30 pm – regular meeting – jun 15th, 2016, June 15, 2016, https://newark.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=200&meta_id=70148.

[xxi] Office of the Mayor, “New Bulk Trash Ordinance to Take Effect October 1,” nextdoor.com, September 20, 2016, https://nextdoor.com/agency-post/nj/newark/office-of-the-mayor/new-bulk-trash-ordinance-to-take-effect-october-1-32826408/.

[xxii] Karen Yi, “Community Bands Together to Clean up Trash from Streets,” Infoweb, May 22, 2017, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&docref=news%2F1648C8B792FD4848&f=basic.

[xxiii] Nicole Zanchelli, “A Hot Mess: Newark Streets Lined with Garbage amid Sanitation Pickup Delays | Newark, NJ News Tapinto | Tapinto,” TAPinto Newark, July 18, 2025, https://www.tapinto.net/towns/newark/sections/government/articles/a-hot-mess-newark-streets-lined-with-garbage-amid-sanitation-pickup-delays.

[xxiv] Jordan P. Howell, Garbage in the Garden State (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2023), 155.

[xxv] Eileen Maura McGurty, “City Renaissance on a Garbage Heap: Newark, New Jersey, and Solid Waste Planning,” Journal of Planning History 2, no. 4 (November 2003): 311–30, https://doi.org/10.1177/1538513203259043.