MARLBORO — Residents may soon get a slight break from the clamor of noisy garbage trucks during the early morning hours of the weekend.
The Marlboro Township Council introduced an ordinance at its March 14 meeting that would prohibit solid-waste collection vehicles from operating in the municipality before 7 a.m. on Saturdays.
As of now, trash haulers are permitted to begin work in Marlboro at 6 a.m. on Saturdays, according to municipal code. The proposal would push the start time back by one hour.
If the ordinance is adopted at the April 4 meeting, it would not impose the later start time on weekdays.
According to township documents, garbage trucks would still be able to pick up waste until 6 p.m. on Saturdays and weekdays.
Sunday collection is not allowed in Marlboro.
Councilwoman Randi Marder said the council chose to delay Saturday garbage pickup by one hour in response to complaints put forth by residents in 2012.
According to a previous News Transcript article, resident Jack Litsky took his anger with the early operating hours to the governing body in October. Litsky said the garbage trucks posed a quality-of-life issue because loud noises would often prematurely wake him from his sleep.
To make matters worse, Litsky claimed, some garbage trucks began arriving on Marlboro’s streets before 6 a.m.
During a discussion of the proposed ordinance, Business Administrator Jonathan Capp said the zoning department is in regular communication with solid waste transport companies to make sure they comply with Marlboro’s municipal code. He said zoning officials would relay the new regulation to those businesses if the ordinance is adopted.
If the move inspires some collection services operators to charge higher rates to Marlboro residents, the council would “certainly consider reversing” the ordinance, council President Frank LaRocca added.
Township Attorney Louis Rainone noted that while he previously did not believe state law would allow such a decision to be made at the municipal level, legislators passed an amendment that gave towns like Marlboro more power to dictate hours of operation for garbage collectors.
— Jack Murtha