Those plans have been shredded, you might say, like so many old newspapers.

In fact, bundles of old papers lean against the bathroom sink. Squeeze past, and the tub overflows with jumbo plastic bags, stretched to capacity.

"This is all aluminum," Brodman, 78 and a retired nurse, said as she pointed at the left half of the tub. "This is all plastic." She waved right.

Brodman and four compatriots at the Villages at Pine Valley in Northeast Philadelphia - all veteran recyclers - were outraged when they moved into the building and found no place to toss paper and plastic but into the trash.

So they took it upon themselves to start a program for the four-story building's 89 units, one that not only helps the environment but puts the facility in compliance with recycling regulations.

"Here was a building full of people and no recycling," Norma Rudolph, 75, a retired bookkeeper, said. To the friends, it was akin to a building without fire alarms.

Nearly a year later, the gang spends hours collecting newspapers, aluminum cans, plastic and phone books - a labor of love in a city with a residential recycling rate far behind most major cities'. Once a month, they drive the load to the Friends of Pennypack Park's monthly collection of recyclables.

"It's outstanding that residents go above and beyond what they're required to do to participate in recyling," said Carlton Williams, Philadelphia's deputy streets commissioner. "It has enormous environmental benefit. . . . We applaud them for that."

On a recent Monday, Brodman, whose apartment is a drop-off point, returned to her front door to find two bundles of newspapers and a bag of rinsed-out plastic neatly placed out front.

"This is nothing," she said, entering the unit. "It's a good thing I have another bathroom."

The other organizers - Norma Rudolph and her husband, Ken, 84, a retired electrician; Sheila Grossman, 74, a life-long volunteer, and George Solis, 76, a retired SEPTA supervisor - all agreed.

The Rudolphs and Grossman are pals of Brodman who met through Friends of Pennypack years ago. They all moved to the 55-and-older community in 2006, when the building opened. Solis is a new recruit.

In just months, the program has grown to proportions that require ever more space. The volunteers have taken to hauling bags to an old 11-by-6-foot guardhouse at the park. A few days ago, it was stuffed nearly to the rafters, a small hill, if not mountain, of the discarded.

On the third Saturday of the month, Ken Rudolph makes two, three or more trips in his car, hauling the pile from the guardhouse to the Pennypack recycling site at Lincoln High School off Rowland Avenue.

About 400 vehicles drop off each month from 9 a.m. to noon, said Alan Kaminsky, recycling coordinator for the park group. The park, with 1,600 acres, runs along Pennypack Creek in the Northeast.

The contribution from Brodman and company runs about $100 to $200 a year, a trickle toward Pennypack's overall $10,000-a-year take used to plant trees and put in benches (made of recycled plastic, of course), trash receptacles and other amenities.

"It's a money-maker," Ken Rudolph said.

"It keeps us busy," his wife added.

Kaminsky said the money was not the whole point, though. "It's what the seniors are not leaving their grandchildren - trash in landfills. . . . They're environmentalists, basically. It's in their blood."

Soon after the friends moved to the community, which is affiliated with Holy Redeemer Health System and is a jog from Pennypack, the collecting began.

"The residents put it on a faster track," said Chris Holt, a spokeswoman for Holy Redeemer, who was unable to find out why the building did not originally offer recycling, as required by law. "They had a passion to take it on."

Before long, trash appeared outside Brodman's door.

"It started small," she said.

"And kept growing," added Norma Rudolph, who has dedicated her front hall closet to the effort.

Dick Goldberg, director of Coming of Age at Temple University's Center for Intergenerational Learning, said the seniors serve as a textbook example of civic engagement among those 50 and over, the type of contribution his initiative encourages. "This exemplifies the spirit of what it means to be part of a community, to do something for yourself, and here, literally, for your neighbors," he said.

Holt said Holy Redeemer wanted the residents to continue to run the program so that Pennypack Park could benefit. The health system plans to build two on-site storage facilities.

In the meantime, bathtubs and such will have to suffice. And the hefty workload will continue.

"When you know you're doing something right, it doesn't hurt," said Grossman, who stores empty plastic jugs under her bed.

"It's good exercise," added Norma Rudolph.

"We take even toilet paper rolls," Grossman said.

"I've been told I created a monster," Brodman interjected. "I'll take that responsibility if we can save a little Earth."