Some state lawmakers spent Tuesday talking trash.

Reading officials were in Harrisburg to weigh in on a proposal to make trash collection mandatory statewide.

The subject of rubbish is one Nigel Walker, executive director of Reading Beautification Inc., knows well. 

In the spring, Walker headed up a group of volunteers who cleaned up 47 tons of trash from illegal dumping sites. 

"Since April 30, we've cleaned up another seven to eight tons," Walker said.  "That's just in the city of Reading."

Reading already requires its residents to have a trash hauler.

"It's mandatory, but with the option of picking 10 to 12 other haulers and the issue with that is compliance," explained Frank Denbowski, chief of staff for Reading Mayor Tom McMahon and the city's former solid waste coordinator.

Tuesday, Walker and Denbowski testified in front of the Joint Legislative Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee.

Pa. Sen. David Argall, R-Berks and Schuylkill counties, is leading the fact-finding mission to examine the possibility of making trash collection mandatory for all Pennsylvanians.

"Many of us take that for granted, but in some communities it's still optional," Argall said.

The topic of trash collection has been a hotly debated issue in Reading.  Two referendums proposing a single hauler system in the city have failed.

"The issue became very cloudy," Denbowski said of past ballot questions.  "And it became an issue about maybe big government telling people what to do."

City officials are hoping for a statewide solution.

"Maybe dedicate some people to make sure these laws are enforced," Walker suggested.  "The cities and the municipalities cannot do it alone."

According to a statewide survey by the group Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, of municipalities without mandatory trash collection, 60 percent had one or more illegal dumping sites.  But the group found even among municipalities with mandatory collection, 44 percent still had problems with illegal dumping.

"We spend a lot of our time, our resources, money cleaning up illegally dumped sites," Walker said.  "We want to really spend our time on some projects, maybe some gateway projects, planting flowers, doing some good stuff, but right now we're tied into cleaning up these illegal dump sites."

Lawmakers will examine testimony from Tuesday's hearing and a prior hearing in Hamburg before putting forth an official proposal on how to clean up Pennsylvania.

In the meantime, 69 News would also like to hear your take on the issue. You can leave a message at 610-871-0074.