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About
Us For an expanded history of the Recycling Alliance of Philadelphia, click here. Clean Air Council is a member- supported, non-profit environmental organization dedicated to protecting everyone's right to breathe clean air. The Council works through public education, community advocacy, and government oversight to ensure enforcement of environmental laws. Clean Water Action (CWA)
has been protecting our water, preventing health-threatening pollution,
and empowering people to make democracy work since 1971. Clean Water is
a national citizens' organization working for clean, safe and affordable
water, prevention of health-threatening pollution, creation of environmentally
safe jobs and businesses, and empowerment of people to make democracy
work. Expanded
History of the Recycling Alliance of Philadelphia
Led by Clean Water Action and Clean Air Council, recycling advocates met with members of City Council, and mobilized recycling and community leaders to express their concerns at the City Budget Hearings. Clean Water Action and Clean Air Council mobilized door-to-door canvasses and a web site to alert citizens to recycling issues and encourage them to write and call City Council. Advocates pressed relentlessly at the monthly meetings of the Recycling Advisory Committee (RAC) and the Solid Waste Advisory Council (SWAC). The Recycling Alliance of Philadelphia was formally mobilized in a press conference in front of City Hall on March 13, 1998. As its first steps, the Alliance called on the Administration to hire a new Recycling Coordinator and return to weekly collection. Bowing to the pressure, the position of Recycling Coordinator was filled in September 1998 and a weekly collection pilot began in two sections of the City in May 1999. Initial results from the pilot indicate an average increase in recyclables of 26 percent (by weight) in the pilot areas. In 2001, the City's new Recycling Coordinator, David Robinson, has began the "Same Day-Same Way" pilot program, this time in areas of Northeast and Northwest Philadelphia. This program is testing "dual-collection," or the collection of recyclable materials on the same day as trash collection on the same truck. For a full report on "dual-collection" and the city's pilot program, click here.(1.4 MB pdf file - get adobe reader!). For a PowerPoint presentation overview, click here. Mission Statement The Recycling Alliance of Philadelphia is coalition of organizations and individuals working together to promote expanded recycling in the City of Philadelphia in order to improve the environment, economy, and quality of life in our City. A strong recycling program is essential to the environmental and economic health of Philadelphia. The Alliance aims to see Philadelphia's recycling diversion rate reach and exceed the achievable goal of 50% established by Philadelphia City Council in the City's 1987 recycling ordinance. In order for this goal to be achieved, the Alliance urges the Mayor, the Mayor's administration, and Philadelphia City Council to implement the following recommendations immediately: Provide Weekly Collection
Citywide. Philadelphia
must provide weekly residential curbside recycling collection citywide. Adopt Single Stream Recycling Technology. Philadelphia must adopt single stream collection technology in order to most efficiently collect recyclables curbside. Implement Comprehensive Recycling Education Program. The Philadelphia Recycling Office must implement a comprehensive recycling education program, tailored to the needs of each city neighborhood. The recycling education program must be combined with proper enforcement of the Philadelphia's mandatory recycling law. Provide Institutional
Support for Recycling.
Philadelphia's recycling program must be supported from the top down.
The Mayor, the Mayor's administration, and Philadelphia City Council must
fully support Philadelphia's recycling program and respond to their constituents'
demand for a strong recycling program. Recycling
Alliance Members (as of May 2000) Citizens for Pennsylvania's
Future (PennFuture) E.Y.E Openers (Drexel
Environmental Group) ATTN: EYE Openers Frankford United Neighbors
Fresh Fields/Whole Foods
Market Friends of Pennypack
Park Hunting Park Community
Development Corp. New Threads, Inc.
Old City Civic Association
Pennsylvania Resources
Council PRC Philadelphians for Recycling
Queen Village Neighbors
Association South Street Neighbors
Association Spruce Hill Community
Association Washington Square West
Civic Association Weaver's Way Co-op List
of Achievements (as of May 2000) Designed and maintained by Clean
Air Council |