Philadelphia launches single stream recycling

Date: 7/08/2008

by Stephanie Marudas

image credit: _saturnine

The days of separating recyclables in Philadelphia are over. The City of Brotherly Love has evolved. Philadelphians can now toss recyclables like paper, plastics, glass, cardboard, and aluminum into one bin.

Not only is single stream recycling less time consuming than separating, city officials say it’s also easier and should encourage more residents to do their part.

Compared to the rest of the nation, Philadelphia residents recycle at a dismal rate of 5.5 percent, while the national average is around 18 percent. Cities like San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Chicago and Portland, Oregon shine as recycling beacons when compared to Philadelphia. San Francisco has even gone as far to start picking up residents’ compost.

While recycling is associated with helping the environment, it also generates potential big savings for local governments. Recycling diverts waste that municipalities would otherwise have to haul off to landfills.

The building blocks for Philadelphia’s single stream recycling program originated from a series of pilot projects tested under Mayor Michael Nutter’s predecessor, John Street. But Nutter, who took office earlier this year, was the one to finally make single stream recycling a citywide program.

At a ceremony yesterday, Nutter claimed Philadelphia is now the largest city on the East Coast to have a single-stream recycling program. But while single stream recycling will certainly make it easier for Philadelphia to recycle, it's too early to say whether the change will actually increase the city's recycling rate.

Right now, city sanitation trucks pick up recycling every other week in most neighborhoods. Nutter’s administration hopes to eventually institute weekly recycling pickups for all city residents by January 2009.

If you aren’t sure when recycling picks-up are scheduled for your neighborhood, check out this calendar. And if you need a big container for all your recyclables, the city is giving out free bins.