About RecycleNOW - What We've Done/Where We're Headed

The State of Philly Recycling – Winter 2012:
Stuck at 18%. How do we go higher?

Where We've Been:

The Campaign. Since its creation in 2005, the RecycleNOW Philadelphia campaign has collected 12,000 petition signatures, spearheaded the city council hearing on recycling in February 2007, and helped foster an unprecedented environmental awareness in city government and politics.
Nutter’s 5 Point Pledge. During the 2007 mayoral campaign Michael Nutter, along with other major candidates, endorsed RecycleNOW’s 5 point agenda calling on the mayor to be the official voice and champion of recycling, initiate a national search to hire qualified personnel for key recycling jobs, re-task and reorganize the recycling and solid waste advisory boards, create a comprehensive plan for waste and recycling, and provide the financing to implement the plan.
Expanded recycling in tough times. Mayor Nutter deserves great credit for growing the Philadelphia recycling program through the great financial uncertainty of the past several years. In addition to the city’s budget crisis, recycling commodity markets had a crisis of their own. In 2008-2009, Philadelphia went from getting paid for every ton of recyclables, to having to pay to dispose of its recyclables. Though prices have since recovered, Nutter recognized that even in tough times recycling makes economic and environmental sense.
Citywide, weekly, expanded materials, single-stream recycling collection. Mayor Nutter followed through on his promise to greatly expand Philadelphia’s recycling program, including the addition of cardboard and nearly all rigid plastics #1-7, and bring it up to par with other recycling programs around the country.
Philadelphia Recycling Rewards program. In place for nearly two years, the Philadelphia Recycling Rewards program powered by Recyclebank increased recycling rates by offering rewards to households for recycling and reducing waste. Points are allocated by recording a household’s recycling weekly set-out, and reductions in neighborhoods’ trash which can in turn be redeemed for discount coupons and freebies to many local retailers and institutions.

Where We Stand:

18%. Despite the insistence by the Nutter Administration that Philadelphia will surpass a 20% recycling diversion rate by 2011, the city concluded the 2011 fiscal year with a 17.97% curbside recycling rate. Though the number is often muddled with other factors, the percentage of waste that is collected curbside as recycling remains the benchmark recycling rate. What is more troubling is that after all of the positive gains to the system in the last several years, the recycling rate has been level for roughly the past year with no signs of an imminent uptick.
24%. Completed in late 2011, a waste composition study commissioned by the city shows that 24% of the city’s curbside collected waste is recyclable using currently available processing facilities. The good news is that viewed in this light, an 18% recycling diversion rate is quite respectable and means that the city is capturing 3/4s of the potential recyclables. The bad news is that it means reaching the city’s stated Greenworks goal of a 25% recycling rate by 2015 is impossible under present conditions unless significant changes are made.
Without a Recycling Coordinator (again) or a fully staffed Recycling Office. Even though the position has existed since the mid-1980s, Philadelphia has had a full-time Recycling Coordinator for a combined 3 years since 2005. On December 31, 2011, Philadelphia lost another highly qualified RC in David Biddle who left after a year and a half on the job. He was preceeded by Joan Hicken who left in 2007 after a year and a half on the job as well. Why can’t Philadelphia retain quality recycling personnel? And will it compromise our ability hire qualified individuals in the future? Notably, as of January 1, 2012 staffing of the Philadelphia Recycling Office had dwindled to one full-time employee.

Where We Need to Go:

Organics. Food and yard waste represents 20% of our total waste, and much of it in Philadelphia is sent to a landfill. There, organics break anaerobically and produce methane, a greenhouse gas 70 times more powerful than the carbon dioxide we always hear about. To realize Mayor Nutter’s ambition for Philadelphia to become America’s greenest city and compete with the leading recycling cities: Seattle – 55%; Los Angeles – 62%; San Francisco – 72%; recycling organics is a must.
Waste Diversion. If the city is serious about pushing Philadelphia’s recycling rate up, organics collection and waste diversion should be at the top of the to-do list. Though it is against city regulations to collect building (construction & demolition) waste, over 20% of what city refuse trucks collect is C&D waste. Not only should those materials be recycled via a separate, privately collected system, but taxpayers are footing the bill to dispose of the illegally collected waste. Other materials like textiles (5.5% of the waste) and electronics (1.5%) should be diverted towards proper recycling, and in many cases, reuse.
MORE Philadelphians Recycling MORE. Make sure every household has the proper information and a recycling bin in order to increase the recycling participation rate. Enforce the law and make sure every apartment, condo, office, school, and civic building recycles. Recycling is not just for those who live in single-family buildings! Every street corner with a trash bin should have a recycling bin. Expand the sanitation drop off sites and turn them into true recycling centers that also accept yard waste and hard-to-recycle items like batteries, light bulbs, textiles and more. Commendably, these sites already accept all recyclables currently collected at the curb, plus electronics, Styrofoam, bulk metal items and auto tires.
Make Recycling Gains Permanent. Mayor Nutter can reinvigorate the governmental structure behind recycling. Though it continues to meet regularly, there are no members presently appointed to the Solid Waste and Recycling Advisory Committee (SWRAC) body that advises the mayor on solid waste policy. The city has also failed to submit an updated 10 year plan for recycling to SWRAC that is mandated by the state and must be created for 2010-2020. It is unclear how the city plans to continue recycling improvements without a simple plan in place. Philadelphia must also update its 20 year old recycling ordinance to continue to make recycling the law as well as reflect present recycling trends (single stream recycling is illegal under the law as it is currently written). Mayor Nutter’s call for open, transparent and responsive government appears empty if structural changes to recycling governance are not made.
Zero Waste.RecycleNOW advocates a concept that every forward-thinking, sustainable city must examine: a system where all discarded materials are resources for others to use. It means recycling and reusing all materials, as well as better product design to recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. As they say, if you are not for zero waste, how much waste are you for?

Where We Do NOT Need to Go:

Incineration. The city is currently exploring a type of incineration plant called Waste-to-Energy, or WTE, that could be located within the city limits. Until a 70% diversion rate can be achieved, all talk to burn trash is premature, and that is even without considering the health hazards associated increased air pollution and toxic waste disposal.

What We Can Do:

Demand More Recycling. Check out www.recyclenowphila.org and get educated. Enroll your neighbor in the Philadelphia Recycling Rewards Program. Talk to your councilpersons and tell them recycling is important to you. Lead by example, help fight global warming, and start composting in your backyard. Check out www.phillycompost.com and join a composting program or share yours with others. And most importantly – continue to flood Mayor Nutter with questions about recycling and press him on the city’s plan to improve recycling in Philadelphia.