Glass, cans, paper, plastic - every week
Starting this week, recycling pickup goes weekly all across Philadelphia, rather than biweekly as it has been in a large portion of the city. For many residents this means an end to trying to remember "is it this week or last week?" and hopefully that will translate into increased participation.
Starting this week, recycling pickup goes weekly all across Philadelphia, rather than biweekly as it has been in a large portion of the city. For many residents this means an end to trying to remember "is it this week or last week?" and hopefully that will translate into increased participation. Currently our town is something of a laughingstock for a major metropolis, struggling to reach 11 percent participation, while a community like Los Angeles is already at 50 percent.
I can vouch that this should make a difference: When I lived in Germantown we were on a biweekly schedule and as often as not I would guess wrong as to what week it was, because it really wasn't a top priority to keep track. But when I moved to Roxborough and Manayunk, which is to say, into the district of Councilman Michael Nutter, recyclying pickup was weekly and it became a no-brainer routine to set it out with the trash. Now it's second nature.
Today Mayor Nutter will host a
(OK, actually just a press conference, but it will be jubilant!) at the Francisville Playground, 1737 Francis Street (just
» READ MORE: north of 18th & Fairmount
). If you're in the area come out and thank him for havng the determination to see this initiative through -- in spite of some unexpectedly tough times and too many apathetic city residents.
Though there's still a lot that could be done to get people to do more recycling (and of course I have my own suggestions, which I'll detail in a future post), this is a positive, important step for our city, and our Mayor deserves mucho kudos for making it happen.