New Environmental Law Will Change Trash Collection Rules

Scott Detrow

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Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.

Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

December 31, 2012 | 12:25 PM

Among the new state laws going into effect tomorrow: an environmental measure barring people from throwing electronics out with the trash. The Tribune-Review explains:

Trash haulers will be prohibited from picking up discarded electronics such as computers and televisions.
Residents will have to return the used item to retailers such as Best Buy and RadioShack, which must accept them free of charge, said Bill Klimovich, assistant director of Pittsburgh Public Works Bureau of Environmental Services.
Trash haulers, including the city and private firms such as Waste Management and BFI, must notify customers of the change.
Klimovich said his crews will leave the waste at the curb and a foreman will double-back to let residents know about the law. Residents could face a citation if the trash is not removed after 48 hours.