During the 2007 mayoral campaign, Michael Nutter and five other candidates endorsed RecycleNOW’s five point agenda. The agenda called on the next mayor to initiate a national search to hire qualified personnel for key recycling jobs – most importantly the City of Philadelphia’s Recycling Coordinator. Despite the need for drastic budget cuts, the Recycling Alliance lobbied the Streets Department to hire a qualified Recycling Coordinator, a position funded in large part by funds from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, because a strong recycling program can save the City millions of dollars each year.
In mid-April Mayor Nutter kept his promise and hired former Executive Director of the Greater Philadelphia Commercial Recycling Council, David Biddle to fill the position of Recycling Coordinator. Biddle’s long-time experience in Philadelphia’s waste and recycling sector will be a major asset to the Streets Department and the Alliance looks forward to working closely with him to improve residential and commercial recycling while reducing waste.
A future RecycleNOW Newsletter will feature a Q&A with Biddle. If you’d like to submit a question about recycling to Mr. Biddle, please email Christine Knapp by May 21.
Mural Arts Recycling Trucks Unveiled
On April 22, Earth Day, the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and Mayor Nutter, along with Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson and Deputy Mayor Rina Cutler, unveiled 10 new compactor recycling trucks designed and created by truck drivers and students as a part of Design in Motion: The Recycling Truck Project. The new recycling trucks will join the 10 existing Design in Motion trucks that were unveiled as part of last year’s Earth Day. All 20 of the newly designed trucks will hit the streets to pick up recyclables on Friday, April 23.
Keep your eyes peeled in your neighborhood as these mural trucks collect your recycling!
Recycling Rewards Rollout in Center City and South Philadelphia
May 1, 2010 marked the roll-out of Philadelphia’s incentive based recycling program, Recycling Rewards, in Center City and South Philadelphia. For years, residents of these neighborhoods have been advocating for an incentive based program and now they can finally reap the “Rewards.”
The Recycling Rewards program provides residents with coupons or discounts to stores, restaurants and local attractions, and gives many individuals the movitation to start participating. For more information and to sign up, visit the Recycling Rewards website. On May 15, the City of Philadelphia will celebrate the expansion Recycling Rewards into Center City and South Philadelphia at a press conference and rally at The Singing Fountain on E. Passyunk Ave and Tasker St. from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Philadelphia Recycling Rewards partners will be on hand with food, games, and giveaways – including a chance to win tickets to a Philadelphia Eagles home game. Come celebrate South Philly style!
UnLitter Us Campaign Launched
The Philadelphia Streets Department has launched UnLitter Us, first sustained public service campaign to rid our City of litter once and for all. The campaign has already gained much attention for its commercials featuring spoken word poetry and music to convey a powerful message about pride for Philadelphia.
The program encourages individuals to sign a pledge, and challenges communities to create litter free zones to help educate and motivate neighbors to fight litter at home. Check out how you can help at one of their upcoming rallies.
BigBelly Program Receives Reward
Philadelphia’s BigBelly Solar Trash Collection program received a 2010 Environmental Excellence Award from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The awards are given for outstanding efforts to protect and restore watersheds, reduce pollution and conserve energy, educate the public on environmental issues and revitalize communities.
The City of Philadelphia has installed 500 of the trash compactors and intends to purchase 260 more with ARRA funds from the Department of Energy. Use of these compactors reduces fuel use and collection costs by 80 percent and the will save the city $13 million over the next 10 years.
250 Attend Compost Conference
“Compost Matters” a one-day conference held on April 9th at the International House in West Philadelphia was a success. Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and the Institute for Local Self Reliance, the program featured innovators, policy makers, and visionaries in the field who explored the current state of composting in the Delaware Valley. The program addressed new developments in food-waste composting practices, current barriers to food waste recovery, public policy issues, and successful models from the region and around the state. Tours of the regions compost facilities were also offered to participants.
The program featured presentations from:
Keynote speaker Will Allen, CEO of Growing Power, a nonprofit organization based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that supports the development of community food systems and the development of sustainable farming in low-income neighborhoods
Nelson Widell of the Wilmington Organic Recycling Center (WORC), the region’s largest composting facility with a capacity of 500 tons per day
Ned Foley, of Two Particular Acres (TPA), a farm based composting facility and client Marvin Dixon from the Four Seasons Hotel
Maurice Sampson II, RecycleNOW chair and President of Niche Recycling, Inc. who spoke on commercial food waste management, onsite storage and in vessel composting systems
Mark Highland of Organic Mechanics Potting Soil, a noted local landscape architect who spoke on sustainable landscapes
The event closed with a policy panel discussion among government representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and Katherine Gajewski, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, who also offered the closing address.
The power point presentations of these speakers will be made available shortly. Interested parties should contact msampson@nicherecycling.com requesting notification.
