\u201cPeople think that recycling and waste is simple. It\u2019s about as simple as the hand calculator. It\u2019s easy to use. But have you ever tried to build one?\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s still dreaming. After reaching a high of 21 percent in 2015,<\/a> when Michael Nutter was mayor, Philadelphia\u2019s recycling rates started declining basically as soon as Jim Kenney took office. \u201cHe did not make it a priority,\u201d Sampson quips. Then, in 2018, the City started doing the unthinkable: setting its recyclables on fire. The reason? China stopped accepting U.S. recyclables. So Republic Services, then Philly\u2019s recycling operator, raised their fees \u2026 from $67.35 (in 2012)<\/a> to $170 per ton to process our glass, cardboard, paper and plastic.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople think that recycling and waste is simple. It\u2019s about as simple as the hand calculator. It\u2019s easy to use. But have you ever tried to build one?\u201d \u2014 Maurice Sampson, Philadelphia\u2019s first recycling coordinator<\/p>\n That was a no-go. The City stopped sending recyclables to the incinerator when a new contract was reached in 2019, but by then many Philadelphians had Philly shrugged. More gave up on recycling during Covid when worker shortages and pickup delays<\/a> caused the City to combine trash and recycling. Why bother recycling if it\u2019s just going to get trashed or burned? For the past few years, our recycling rate has hovered around an abysmal 13 percent.<\/a><\/p>\n But this summer, the City has an opportunity to rebuild the trust it lost: Philadelphia\u2019s trash and recycling contracts are set to expire in June 2026, paving the way for the Sanitation Department to partner with a forward-thinking, innovative waste management partner that could help us set and reach zero waste goals. The problem: The City doesn\u2019t seem that interested in changing the status quo.<\/p>\n A short process and little competition <\/p>\n Activists have been trying to sound the alarm over the impending expiration of Philly\u2019s waste management and recycling contracts for the past few years. Obviously, no one wanted a repeat of the burn-baby-burn recycling fiasco in 2018, but it went deeper than that: If the City wanted to replace its waste management and recycling contractors with new, more forward-thinking vendors, they\u2019d need to release a Request For Proposal (RPF) that gave those companies enough lead time to establish themselves in Philly.<\/p>\n The current RFP stipulates garbage collectors drop trash and recyclables at Philadelphia waste transfer facilities capable of processing 300 tons of trash and 150 tons of recyclables per day. If a company doesn\u2019t already have stations here, they\u2019d need time to build them and get them up and running before the contract term starts, or they can\u2019t bid. The City released solid waste and recycling RFPs on December 23, 2025. They plan to announce the winners in March. Contracts start July 1, 2026. Five months: Not a lot of time to build.<\/p>\n \u201cThe timeline is either incompetent or it\u2019s set up to fail by design,\u201d says Nic Esposito, former director of the City\u2019s Zero Waste and Litter cabinet, founder of the company Circa Systems, which helps companies avoid overproduction, and Citizen contributor.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not going to get alternative options if you keep doing your contracting in the same way, on the same timeline, with the same terms \u2014 it\u2019s the definition of insanity,\u201d says Samantha Wittchen, administrator for the Circular Cities Network and board member and a co-founder, alongside Esposito, for the nonprofit Circular Philadelphia.<\/a><\/p>\n Sampson takes it a step further, saying \u201cthe process is rigged\u201d in favor of the companies who are already here, and who already have or previously held the contract. WM (formerly Waste Management) has held Philadelphia\u2019s entire recycling contract and 67 percent <\/a>of Philadelphia\u2019s waste contract since 2019; Reworld (formerly Covanta) holds the other 33 percent.<\/a> Republic Services, which formerly held the recycling contract, also already has facilities in Philly.<\/p>\n Philadelphia\u2019s waste and recycling contracts also have short terms \u2014 just four years, with three optional one-year extensions, making them less of a sure thing for a newcomer. (The RFP does say bidders can propose alternate term structures: up to 20 years for solid waste and an initial five or 10 year term for recycling.)<\/p>\n Even if a company could build an entire facility in less than a half year, there\u2019s the not-small matter of return on investment. A materials recovery facility built in San Antonio in 2024 cost $68 million.<\/a><\/p>\n The Sanitation Department and the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives did not make either Clean and Green Director Carlton Williams or Scott McGrath, the Sanitation Department\u2019s environmental planning director, available for an interview.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not going to get alternative options if you keep doing your contracting in the same way, on the same timeline, with the same terms \u2014 it\u2019s the definition of insanity.\u201d \u2014 Samantha Wittchen, Circular Cities Network<\/p>\n No comment means no word on why the City seemingly doesn\u2019t provide adequate opportunity for local competition \u2014 and therefore most likely pays more than necessary \u2014 between $90 to $100 per ton for recycling<\/a> and $70 per ton for solid waste.<\/a> Philadelphia collects 610,000 tons of waste and 80,000 tons<\/a> of recycling each year \u2014 about $8 million for recycling and $42 million annually. Imagine what Philly could do \u2014 for our schools, for our streets, for better housing, public health care \u2014 if we spent less on waste collection and processing.<\/p>\n Imagine, too, the money we could save if we generated less trash and recycling to begin with.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the cities that have been able to reduce waste have seen a lot of cost savings when it comes to waste management, and they\u2019ve been able to reallocate those dollars into other critical programs like addressing gun violence or supporting schools,\u201d says Candice Lawton, executive director of Circular Philadelphia.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t reinvent the wheel <\/p>\n Despite our broken contracting process, Philadelphians have tons of bold, exciting ideas for how to better manage waste and recycling \u2026 if the City would hear them out. They almost did: over the summer the Office of Sustainability, Office of Clean and Green Initiatives and the Sanitation Department jointly put out a request for information<\/a> asking for ideas for better waste management.<\/p>\n Nearly 20 nonprofits, consulting firms, small waste management companies and city residents responded: Use AI to sort recycling and track litter<\/a>! Offer curbside composting<\/a>! Create a program to recycle restaurant takeout containers<\/a>! Some of them are from local businesses looking to scale the work they\u2019re already doing here, but others come from other cities, where they\u2019ve proved successful. Here\u2019s a look at some of the ideas.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have so many great companies that are doing innovative things with waste and making real, reliable and viable businesses out of them \u2026 we should be supporting those businesses.\u201d \u2014 Nic Esposito, Cira Systems<\/p>\n Break up the waste monopoly<\/a>: Wittchen and Esposito have long advocated for allowing multiple smaller vendors to provide services. That\u2019s the approach that Boulder, Colorado took \u2014 and raised their waste diversion rate to close to 50 percent<\/a> and expanded recycling \u2014 to include items like mattresses, electronics and toilets.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe have so many great companies that are doing innovative things with waste and making real, reliable and viable businesses out of them, and we should be supporting those businesses,\u201d Esposito says.<\/p>\n Among them: Private, curbside recycling company Rabbit Recycling<\/a> picks up and recycles nearly everything. The nonprofit Bottle Underground<\/a> collects and recycles glass, which is huge, because recycled glass tends to be used as landfill cover \u2014 a material sprinkled over trash to prevent fires, reduce odors and prevent litter from blowing away \u2014 rather recycled.<\/p>\n Bennett Compost picks up food waste and other organic materials for composting. Yes, these operations are small and would need to significantly scale to manage all Philly\u2019s waste. The solid waste RFP states that it is looking for a vendor \u201ccapable of building relationships with circular local businesses.\u201d Instead, the City could just support them themselves.<\/p>\n Which brings us to the next point \u2026<\/p>\n Help innovators scale: Austin, Texas, launched a showcase and accelerator program<\/a> to help circular economy businesses grow. Last year, Austin awarded: <\/a> $10,000 to a program that helps ensure clothing gets reused and another $2,000 to one that turns agricultural waste into a biochar, a soil fertilizer. They\u2019re microgrants, for sure, but imagine if the City sets aside funds for similar programs \u2014 say $4 or $5 million \u2014 as part of the contracting process.<\/p>\n Opt-in curbside composting: When Esposito was serving as Philly\u2019s Litter Czar, he remembers being told \u201cwe couldn\u2019t do compost. We couldn\u2019t run another set of trucks. It\u2019s impossible,\u201d he says. \u201cNow they\u2019re doing a second trash pickup in a lot of the City \u2026 what if that was the compost day?\u201d<\/p>\n Bennett Compost\u2019s response to the RFI<\/a> outlined what it would take to bring composting to Philly \u2014 namely, start with some pilot programs, remove regulatory barriers and scale from there. Philly has plenty of examples to follow: New York,<\/a> Boston<\/a> and Washington D.C.<\/a> already have active or pilot curbside composting programs. Each year, Philadelphians throw out 206 million pounds of food<\/a> \u2014 removing that from our landfills would go a long way!<\/p>\n Public-private partnership: Rather than requiring waste vendors to build and operate waste transfer stations in Philly, the City could build its own facilities and lease them to operators. That\u2019s what Phoenix, Arizona, has done with its two material recovery facilities for recycling.<\/a> Leasing municipal-owned facilities to private operators can allow more vendors to bid, making the contracting process more competitive and ultimately reducing the price. Late last year, Mayor Parker cut the ribbon for one such facility, the Northwest Transfer Station,<\/a> and bidders can include and accept waste processed there as part of their plan. It accepts 550 tons of waste per day.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not the only way a public-private partnership could help improve waste management. Lawton sees potential in leveraging vacant land for companies working in the building materials reuse space. Companies that collect construction waste for recycling \u2014 a major source of illegal dumping \u2014 have struggled to afford the needed warehousing space, she says. Philadelphia owns approximately 10,000 vacant lots<\/a>. Why not put them to use?<\/p>\n Capitalize on the 250th: Rather than welcoming people to Filthadelphia as we play host for the nation\u2019s 250th birthday<\/a> (and the World Cup, and MLB All-Star Weekend), we should seize the moment, update our waste management practices and show the world that we\u2019re a city embracing the green economy of the future.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we have a responsibility to think about what this year means for Philadelphia,\u201d Lawton says. \u201cHow we are representing what the future of our country is going to look like, and where we can lead on a lot of solutions \u2014 like how we deal with our waste and bringing those practices into the current century.\u201d<\/p>\n One arguably simple way to do that: reusable containers at Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park, who welcome about 4 million fans for NFL and MLB games alone. The Oregon Convention Center introduced a reusable cup and food basket program last year.<\/a> It\u2019s a virtually old-fashioned concept: returning server ware to be washed and reused instead of tossing it. The Portland venue welcomes close to 400,000 event attendees annually. Researchers for the non-governmental organization Upstream estimate that a stadium with just 300,000 attendees can divert an average of 63.75 tons of plastic per year.<\/a>. Philly certainly has the potential to have an above average year when it comes to waste generated from concessions. Maybe this is a solution?<\/p>\n Are we stuck with the same contract? <\/p>\n Will we do any of this? Well, there\u2019s that Philly shrug, again. The ideas from the RFI are summarized within the solid waste RFP and the City asked bidders to note where they\u2019ve accepted or rejected its advice. It also promised to use \u201clifecycle analyses,\u201d which are used to evaluate environmental impacts, like carbon output, sustainability, and other environmental factors, as part of evaluating bidders. They also have an option for firms to propose building an alternate waste processing facility that could, perhaps, extract food waste from broader municipal trash or otherwise help improve waste management. Something like that wouldn\u2019t need to be operational on July 1, they note. The whole thing is light on firm commitments to change.<\/p>\n The City also hasn\u2019t been readily transparent. Mike Ewall, founder and director of the Energy Justice Network, said he had to submit a Freedom of Information Act request in October to obtain the RFI responses; he posted them publicly<\/a> because the City hadn\u2019t. The Office of Sustainability deferred to the Office of Clean and Green and the Sanitation Department when asked for comment.<\/p>\n There might still be a way to fix how Philly does its waste contracts, though: In September, 3rd District Councilmember Jamie Gauthier introduced the Stop Trashing Our Air Act,<\/a> to ban Philadelphia from burning its trash, a practice with dire environmental and health consequences. Currently, the City sends about one third<\/a> of our trash to the Reworld incinerator in nearby Chester, which is notorious for polluting \u2014 and heavily contributing to a local childhood asthma rate that, at 27 percent,<\/a> is four times the national average.<\/p>\n \u201cI applaud the efforts to make Philadelphia cleaner and greener, but you cannot do and make your community cleaner and greener while you\u2019re trashing another community.\u201d \u2014 Zulene Mayfield, Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living<\/p>\n Zulene Mayfield,<\/a> chair of Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living, says, \u201cThe smells are so overwhelming until people stopped having cookouts, people stopped having people come over their house. People no longer sat on their porches or opened up windows.<\/p>\n \u201cI applaud the efforts to make Philadelphia cleaner and greener, but you cannot do and make your community cleaner and greener while you\u2019re trashing another community and causing economic harm and health harm,\u201d she continues.<\/p>\n Activists hope that the bill, should it pass, will force the City to reconsider its waste and recycling contracts,<\/a> perhaps forcing them to put out a new RFP. Wittchen sees it as a potential \u201clever that forces the City to have to go back to the drawing board.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf all of a sudden, Council says to the administration, you can\u2019t burn it anymore, they\u2019re going to have to go back because incineration is such an important part of the City\u2019s waste management portfolio,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe law will force them to not ultimately sign a contract with [a firm that plans to incinerate trash] and then they\u2019ll have to look at their other bidders,\u201d says Ewall, who drafted the bill in 2021 as an advisor to the City Council Environment Committee Chair. \u201cThere is no such thing as zero waste with incineration.\u201d<\/p>\n The bill is expected to come to a vote at Council\u2019s meeting on Thursday, January 22. If it passes, there\u2019s a chance the City could try to work with its current RFP, but it could also put out a short term contract, say two or three years, while at the same time releasing another RFP for a longer, possibly 15 to20-year waste and recycling contract \u2014 a compromise that would both allow time to attract competition, while making sure our trash gets picked up come July.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not waiting for New York City to do this. We\u2019re going to do this because it\u2019s right, and hopefully other cities follow suit,\u201d says Russell Zerbo, an advocate with the Clean Air Council, who has spoken out in support of the bill.<\/a><\/p>\n What else can we do? <\/p>\n The City\u2019s solid waste and recycling contracts underpin the entire waste management system. Changing them is key to getting us to zero waste. But even if the contracts remain the same for another seven years, there are still things we can do to become more sustainable.<\/p>\n Look at the success of just five years of the plastic bag ban: We\u2019ve eliminated 200 million plastic bags since 2021. <\/a>Why not capitalize on that success, and ban other single-use plastics, like England<\/a> or France<\/a>? Several California cities<\/a> are requiring restaurants to make the switch to reusable takeout containers, something Tiffin Indian Cuisine has pioneered locally. Most of all, the City can lean on local stakeholders and learn from other places, so in another four or seven years we\u2019re in a better place to build stronger, smarter waste management and recycling programs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have to reinvent the wheel and stand this up from scratch,\u201d Lawton says. \u201cWe [Circular Philadelphia] are uniquely positioned to be a liaison between the City of Philadelphia and other cities across the U.S. who have been successful in making these transitions.\u201d<\/p>\n Sampson, for his part, plans to keep fighting. He\u2019s floated approaching the City Controller to investigate whether we\u2019re getting our best value from waste contracts. But mostly, he\u2019s focused on passing the torch. Not because Philly\u2019s finally changed, but because he\u2019s in his 70s. He can\u2019t wait another seven years for the City to (maybe? hopefully? doubtfully?) get its act together when the next waste management contracting process begins.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to go out and see these things that I\u2019ve been fighting for all these years. I have not been to the Grand Canyon. I\u2019ve not seen the Tetons. I have not seen the Redwoods,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to mentor and prepare the next group of activists \u2026 because the work is not done.\u201d<\/p>\n Aerial view of a trash barge and junk yard along Delaware River, 2024. Photo by Brian E. Kushner for Getty Images. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s glee in Maurice Sampson\u2019s voice when he talks about the environmental movement in the 70s and 80s.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70,8431,9711],"class_list":["post-94006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-recycling","tag-trash-and-litter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Cherelle_Parker_Twice_Weekly_Trash_Collection_2024.jpg\"\/)
<\/a>Mayor Cherelle Parker at a press event announcing twice-a-week residential trash pickup in two city districts in late 2024. Photo courtesy of the City of Philadelphia. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jamie_Gauthier_Chester_Incinerator.jpg\"\/)
<\/a>Jamie Gauthier at her \u201cToxic Tour\u201d of Chester, PA in November 2025. Photo by Durrell Hospedale. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Zulene_Mayfield_Chester_Mayor_Stefan_Roots_Jamie_Gauthier_by_Durrell_Hospedale.jpg\"\/)
<\/a>Left to right: Zulene Mayfield, Chester Mayor Stefan Roots, Philadelphia City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier outside the Reworld incinerator in Chester. Photo by Durrell Hospedale. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764777427_704_nl_bolt600-copy.jpg\"\/)
MORE SOLUTIONS FOR HANDLING TRASH<\/p>\n