News from Village Hall: DeCicco and Sons to Open in Scarsdale Village, Weekly Recycling Pickup to Begin in January

Two great pieces of news from the Scarsdale Village Board meeting on Tuesday November 26, 2024.

After months of suspense, the wait is over. DeCicco and Sons, who runs the store in Eastchester, will expand into the now vacated DeCicco Family Market in Scarsdale. Plans and timing to come:

Here are comments from Mayor Justin Arest:

DeCicco and Sons

I am thrilled to announce that Decicco and Sons has entered into a contract with Decicco and Family Markets to take over the Village of Scarsdale location. Their deal is expected to close by the end of the year and we believe there will be substantial improvements to the space early next year.

The Village has been in regular contact with Scarsdale Improvement Corp. as we understand the importance of this market to many in our community including our senior population. We have expressed concerns about the hard working staff that have been impacted and have been told that actions have and will be taken to continue employment to as many employees as possible either at this location in the future or other store locations. We thank DeCicco Family Markets for its many years of service to Scarsdale and are excited to welcome Decicco and Sons to the Village Center."

Weekly Recycling Pick-up

Yeah - no more trips to the dump! The Village of Scarsdale will start weekly pick up of both paper and comingled recyclables in January! The service is now bi-weekly and was confusing, and also inadequate for many.

Here are comments from Mayor Justin Arest, delivered at Village Hall on Tuesday night November 26, 2024:

"It’s no surprise to our residents that sanitation collection trends have evolved over the past twenty years. While trash volumes have decreased, the collection of commingled recyclables has risen by an impressive 73%. At the same time, paper and cardboard collection has dropped by 29%. However, I want to clarify that this decline is somewhat misleading—it’s based on weight. Over the past two decades, the distribution of newspapers and catalogs has significantly diminished. These items were heavy and dense, and in their place, we now see an influx of cardboard boxes. While these boxes are often large, they don’t necessarily weigh as much.

Since before I joined the Board, residents have consistently called for increased recycling collection, particularly moving to a weekly schedule. Every Board I’ve had the privilege of serving on has explored this issue. When I became Mayor, the 2023–2024 Village Board decided to make this change a priority and this has continued. Our goal has been to enhance service while remaining as tax-neutral as possible.

This effort has involved extensive collaboration among staff, the Sanitation Department, the Teamsters Union, and many dedicated Board members. I’m thrilled to announce that, thanks to the hard work and commitment of everyone involved, the Village of Scarsdale will begin weekly recycling collection starting in January. The 2025 sanitation calendars will be sent to residents next month.

This achievement reflects our collective dedication to sustainability and responsiveness to our community’s needs. My heartfelt thanks go to all who contributed to making this goal a reality."

A Press Release from the Village of Scarsdale issued on November 26, 2024 explains:

The Village of Scarsdale is proud to announce a significant enhancement to its recycling collection program. Beginning January 01, 2025, The Village will implement weekly collection of paper and commingled recycling, replacing the current every-other-week schedule. This change reflects Scarsdale’s commitment to sustainability, operational efficiency and meeting the needs of its residents.

This improvement follows the Department of Public Works’ (DPW) operational review of the Sanitation Division, completed in December 2023. The review examined trends over the past 20 years, highlighting a notable reduction in solid waste, paper and commingled recycling collected by the Department. The findings concluded that a shift to weekly recycling services would align operations with current demand and would enhance service delivery. A copy of this study can be found here.

What Residents Need to Know:

• New Recycling Schedule: Weekly Collection of both paper and comingled recycling begins January 01, 2025.

• Sanitation Calendars: The DPW has prepared four updated sanitation calendars to reflect changes to recycling routes. These calendars will be mailed to residents before the end of the year. Nearly all residents will continue to have the same garbage collection schedule as they do now.

• Route Adjustments: To optimize recycling operations the Monday/Thursday and Tuesday/Friday trash collection routes have been divided into two recycling routes.

• Collection routes and schedules are currently being finalized and will be shared with the public ahead of the January 1, 2025, kickoff date