COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON STREETS AND SERVICES - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, February 22, 2007 1:10 p.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO, CHAIR COUNCILMAN W. WILSON GOODE, JR. COUNCILMAN WILLIAM GREENLEE COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN BRIAN J. O'NEILL COUNCILMAN JUAN RAMOS COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILMAN DANIEL SAVAGE COUNCILWOMAN CAROL ANN CAMPBELL RESOLUTION 060215 - Resolution authorizing the Committee on Streets and Services to hold hearings regarding recycling, the low rate of recycling in the City currently, and potential methods to increase the recycling diversion rate. - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you all for being here. Since this is a resolution and not a bill, we do not need a quorum, and in the interest of time, we will begin with the hearings on the resolution. The sponsor of the resolution 10 to my immediate left is Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, who is not a member of the Streets and Services Committee, but, again, she is the sponsor of the resolution. To her left is Councilman Rizzo, who is a member of the Streets and Services Committee, and I'm Frank DiCicco, the Chair of this Committee. So we will proceed. Just by way of information, yesterday there was a very long hearing regarding casinos. It lasted the better part of eight hours yesterday, so we are all pretty well worn out. We appreciate you coming here and we do appreciate and welcome your testimony. We are, by no 3 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 means, going to move this along any more quickly than it needs to go, but we'd ask in the interest of time if your testimony is similar to those who have preceded you, that you summarize it to the best of your ability. But we will be here for as long as it takes to get through and allow everyone who is on the witness list to testify. I will ask Mr. Abernathy to please read the title of the resolution.
Resolution No. 14 060215, a resolution authorizing the Committee on Streets and Services to hold hearings regarding recycling, the low rate of recycling in the City currently, and potential methods to increase the recycling diversion rate. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Councilwoman Reynolds Brown would like to have an opening statement. So Councilwoman Brown.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman. 4 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 The timing of this is very interesting for me. I just left from watching a number of the presidential candidates on CNN -- or C-SPAN where all of them are now -- and I should say democratic candidates -- and all of them are including in their opening remarks the need and importance for us as a nation to do better when it comes to the issue of recycling and our environment. (Applause.)
So our goal and purpose today is to improve Philadelphia's recycling rate. We believe that this is an important and timely public policy issue and should become a public policy priority, and we are delighted to know that the Streets Department views this the same. On March 16, 2006, I introduced a resolution authorizing the City Council Committee on Streets and Services to hold hearings regarding recycling, the low rate of recycling in the City currently, 5 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 and potential methods to increase recycling and to look at the good that is already in place. I feel that with a new Recycling Coordinator in place, with the successful single-stream RecycleBank pilot program, as well as with other efforts of the Recycle Now Philadelphia campaign and the Recycling Advisory Committee, the time is right and ripe, R-I-P-E, to get a plan in place that vastly improves recycling citywide. There can be no progress without a plan. On Thursday, February 22nd, today, we will now hear testimony on this resolution, and I want to thank all of those from the recycling community -- Blue Mountain, Clean Water Action, Clean Air Council, PennFuture and others -- for your advocacy on this important public policy issue. We know ultimately this adds cleanliness to our city, hopefully provides additional jobs for our citizens, and we lead by example for our 6 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 young people who become citizens for tomorrow. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Councilwoman. In the interest of fairness and being democratic, we will hear from the republican side of the aisle, Councilman Brian O'Neill, who represents the Tenth Councilmanic District, which primarily encompasses Northeast Philadelphia.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and this is certainly a bipartisan issue, I can tell you that. I just wanted to say at the outset that recycling, since it has gone to single stream in my district, has increased tremendously. It's a no-brainer. People are putting out -- (Applause.)
People are putting out more recycling now in many 7 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 cases than they are trash. Before it was 90 percent trash and percent 4 recycling. 5 But we're just at the beginning 6 of doing what we should be doing with 7 single stream. 8 (Applause.) 9
We have to 10 do weekly. No one -- I have not found -- (Applause.)
We are so alone in biweekly recycling. I can't find another jurisdiction that does biweekly recycling. I have jurisdictions that do twice weekly trash and only once weekly recycling. But biweekly recycling throws the whole citizenry out of kilter every other week. For instance, sometimes there's just too much, so people squeeze it into their trash, and that's human nature. Secondly, the containers are too small if you go every two weeks with single stream. But people don't really need bigger containers if 8 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 they could go every week. The only reason people are calling for larger containers is because they have to hold this stuff for two weeks, and it's bulky. And the last thing I just wanted to mention -- again, there's people here that are advocates and I want the time to be theirs, but any incentive-based programs, even if they cost us money but don't cost us, as we say, an arm and a leg, some people respond to the incentives, and if that's what it takes, let's do it even if we do it on a pilot. I would welcome my district to be a pilot, first of all, for weekly. (Applause.)
Secondly for incentive based. I mean, I don't do coupons, but I stand behind the counter of people that wouldn't go to the store without them, and it's a mind set. A lot of our older people ask for them because it means something to somebody on a fixed 9 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 income, and they will go the extra mile if they have -- it's not so much an incentive; it is a chance to have a little extra money in their pocket. So whatever it takes. And there's multiple solutions to this. We should be doing every one, not just one. Thank you. ) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Councilman, and for selfish reasons, I would hope that whatever it is that we do begins in the Councilmanic order by way of numerical, First District, Second District and so forth. But thank you. The first witness, Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson and her staff. Also let the record reflect that Councilman Dan Savage is also present. He's a member of the Streets and Services Committee. Also it was just brought to my attention, to my immediate left standing 10 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 on the other side of the rail is State Representative Babette Josephs, and I know she's very interested in recycling as well. J. Thompson, who is the President of the Fishtown Civic Association, was planning to testify today. He had a scheduling conflict. He does have some testimony that will be made part of the record. But he was here today as well -- would have been here had it not been for scheduling. Good afternoon, Commissioner. We've been down this road before and hopefully today you have some good news for us, hopefully. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Yes. Good afternoon, Councilman DiCicco and honorable members of City Council. My name is Clarena Tolson, Commissioner of the Streets Department. Seated with me today are Carlton Williams, Deputy 11 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Streets Commissioner heading the Sanitation Division, and Joan Hicken, the City's Recycling Coordinator. We are pleased to testify before the Streets and Services Committee on the City's current recycling program and the Department's plans for the future. The Streets Department has implemented the City's citywide recycling program since 1987. We provide curbside recycling services to approximately 530,000 households throughout the City. The Department oversees the City's Recycling Office, which is primarily responsible for coordinating education and outreach programs that encourage residents to recycle. The Department also enforces laws in both residential and commercial areas to ensure compliance. Recycling is a high priority in the Streets Department. It remains a key component to reducing the amount of rubbish in the waste stream. Recycling 12 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 is both important environmentally and economically. Environmentally, it helps conserve our precious resources for future generations, saves energy and reduces greenhouse gases. It also reduces the amount of material discarded as trash at local landfills and incinerators. Economically, it reduces disposal costs at landfills, creates jobs and adds value to the economy. Recycling also generates revenue from the sale of material to processing facilities when markets are favorable. 2 million of revenue was generated by the sale of recycling commodities to private processors. S. EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the national average rate of recovery for materials that we may collect curbside is 42 percent. Let me take a moment to explain that number. S. EPA says is that of your recyclable material, potentially 13 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 recyclable materials, 42 percent is likely to be or can be recovered. With that recovery rate, we believe that the City can achieve a goal of percent 6 diversion. Diversion is -- 7 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It's not 8 enough. It's not enough. 9 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Excuse me.
10 Please respect the witnesses, because 11 when your turn is to come up, you can 12 speak on any of the issues, but I ask 13 that everyone conduct themselves in a 14 respectable way. And you may be right, 15 it may not be enough, but that's what 16 this hearing is about. Thank you. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Diversion is a portion of materials that is recycled as compared to materials that are collected overall. Further, I should clarify that the City collects two different numbers. One number is the amount that is collected by the City and is our diversion rate. The other is the 14 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 amount that is collected by the City and the private sector, offering another diversion rate. We call one the residential rate and one the commercial rate, which is actually commercial and residential together. The City's average residential curbside diversion rate over the past ten years has been approximately six percent. The City's residential diversion rate only calculates materials that are collected curbside, including glass, paper, plastic, metal, cardboard and aluminum. Other cities may report different diversion rates. However, each city calculates diversion differently. Some cities combine their commercial and residential rate. Our city's combined residential and commercial rate is 38 percent. In addition, cities collect and use different materials in calculating their diversion rate. However, we believe that we can improve our city's 15 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 diversion rate and have taken steps to accomplish this goal. Our Department has been progressive in finding ways to increase the City's diversion rate. The Streets Department recently piloted two innovative programs designed to increase recycling tonnage. In 2004, the Streets Department piloted single-stream recycling. Single-stream recycling is the process of placing all recyclable materials in the same container, into one container. This process collects material in compactors and makes it efficient to add commodities such as plastic and cardboard. In March of 2006, after a national search, the City purposely hired a new Recycling Coordinator with extensive recycling experience, particularly in the area of single stream. Ms. Hicken built the single-stream system in Glendale, Arizona. In addition, the Streets 16 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Department worked with the Procurement Department to build a new bid on a contract for processing and marketing recycling materials for the City. The City receives favorable bids for processing single-stream materials. We were pleased to implement single-stream recycling to approximately 123,000 households in the Northeast section of Philadelphia in July of 2006 as a result. Since the change to single-stream recycling, tonnage in the Northeast increased an average of 29 percent. Beginning March 5th, the City plans to implement single-stream recycling to another 93,000 residents in West and Southwest Philadelphia. The near-term plan for recycling is to implement single-stream recycling across the entire city. Education and outreach are an integral part of promoting recycling in the City of Philadelphia. The Department invests significant amounts of grant 17 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 funds from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in a comprehensive education and outreach program that includes broad-based messaging through various media outlets and community-based outreach in local neighborhoods to promote recycling. Last year, the Streets Department initiated a Recycling Ambassador Program that created neighborhood street teams made up of local Philadelphia residents. The purpose of the Ambassador Program is to deliver recycling messages through personal interaction, knocking on doors and talking to residents. Last year, the ambassadors visited over 100,000 households throughout the City.
In my summary, let me state that our plans have four major components: One, to increase education and community outreach; two, to expand single-stream recycling citywide; three, to increase enforcement; four, to update the City's recycling ordinance to be 18 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 consistent with the current laws. We prepared a recycling action plan summarizing the Department's current and future strategies for maximizing recycling in the City. We look forward to working with the members of City Council and advocates from the community to reach our goals. Our testimony will be continued with the presentation by Deputy Commissioner Carlton Williams. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Commissioner. Before we proceed any further, I'd like to recognize Councilman Clarke and the Vice-Chair of this Committee, Councilman Ramos, in addition to Councilman Greenlee, who is also in attendance. If I can just go out of order for one minute, I know State Representative Babette Josephs has another schedule. She did want to say a few words. She just has a few comments to make and then we'll proceed with 19 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 questions for this witness. While we're waiting for Babette to speak, Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, a member of this Committee, is also in attendance. Good afternoon, Ms. Representative. REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHS: Good afternoon. Thank you so much, Councilmember DiCicco and everybody else who is here. I will be brief. I am here in support of enhancing our recycling program. I was just this morning at a press conference where the Governor was talking about expanding renewable energy and wind power and saving energy, and this is -- he had set goals for biofuels and for green buildings all over the state. I believe we can make those goals. I would like to see the City set recycling goals. I think we can make them, too. ) REPRESENTATIVES JOSEPHS: I 20 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 think this is really within our power. This is not a controversy. There's nobody out there with any credibility who is, heaven forbid, against recycling. I'm in full support. Please come to me, talk to me. If you need any support from the state, I'd be very happy to work with you. I'm a short politician. I give a short speech. I'm finished. Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. ) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. I know about being short. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner, for your testimony. On the last page of your testimony, you talk about your four major components, increase education and community outreach. How are you planning to go about that, or if you're already doing it, can you just give us a sense of how you're handling that? COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Sure, 21 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Councilman. If we could, if Mr. Williams could do his part of the presentation, because it actually -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I'm sorry. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: -- kind of goes together. It's one presentation with two parts. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I'll hold off for all questions, then we'll -- I apologize. Mr. Williams. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Good afternoon, Councilman DiCicco and honorable members of City Council. My name is Carlton Williams. I'm the Deputy Commissioner of the Streets Department. I'm pleased to be here today to talk about the future of recycling, because the future of recycling is happening now. Our department developed an innovative plan to increase recycling throughout the City. Our plan and our goals are consistent with the Controller's report to increase recycling 22 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 in four major ways, and the Commissioner talked about them earlier. Our first goal is to increase recycling through education. Second goal is to expand single-stream recycling citywide. Our third goal is to utilize strategic enforcement in non-compliant areas, and our fourth goal is to revise the City's recycling ordinance.
Our first goal of increasing recycling through education has two major components: broad-based education and community outreach. The broad-based education program consists of two major areas in terms of television, radio, print material. The focus of the broad-based campaign is to highlight recycling. It's something that is doable, desirable and everyone's personal responsibility, using young people as the voice of the future for recycling. ) DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The commercial that you've just seen is 23 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 part of our broad-based media campaign that's scheduled to appear on local televisions station on March 9th. We intentionally selected young people as the voice of the future for recycling, because we believe that if recycling is exposed to a city of the future, that we must generate the next generation of recyclers. Equally as important to our broad-based campaign is our community outreach program. Community outreach is important because it gives the residents direct and personal access to information about recycling. Highlighted in our community outreach plans are recycling ambassador street teams. I'd just like to turn your attention directly to a couple of people in the orange shirts that you see back here. Would you please stand up. ) DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 24 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 These neighborhood residents were hired throughout the City last year, along with 30 other individuals, to canvas City of Philadelphia neighborhoods to talk about the importance of recycling. Thank you. You may be seated. ) DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Ambassadors are known as street teams who work block by block, going door by door, resident by resident, expressing and promoting recycling. Last year, our recycling ambassadors visited over 182,000 houses and directly spoke to over 110,000 residents with a 60 percent ratio. We believe that we can increase the future of recycling in the City by changing the culture, and education is the key to making recycling everyone's civic responsibility. Our next goal is to expand single-stream recycling. Single-stream recycling, as the Commissioner said 25 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 earlier in her testimony, is the process of placing all recyclable material into a single container. The use of compactor trucks make it more efficient to add additional materials, including plastics and cardboard. I think it's important right now that we explain why single-stream recycling was selected as a major component of our recycling plan. In 2005, the Streets Department piloted two innovative programs. One was single-stream recycling, the other was incentive-based recycling. Incentive-based recycling is a process that uses discounted coupons to encourage people to recycle. The collection process uses computerized chips and containers, electronic weight scales and mechanical lifting devices to collect material from each resident, measuring participation and tonnage. I'd like to give a demonstration briefly on this process, because this is one of the major 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 issues of us moving forward with the program. I'm going to show a video of the collection process and incentive-based recycling. And what I have here is a stop watch, and after the video I want to record for the record the time it takes to collect materials. I'm going to start the video now and I'm going to start the stop watch. If you can see clearly, the laborer is placing the recyclable container onto a scale lifting device, which has an electronic lifting device and scale on it. It's tipping. It's coming back down, and it has completed the recycle. Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, would you please for the record read the recorded time that it takes? I'm going to come over to you.
Surely. The clock reflects 22.9 -- 22.59 seconds. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 27 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Thank you.
You're welcome. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Twenty-three seconds may not seem like a lot when you're talking about one household, but when you're talking about rolling out to 530,000 households across the entire City, you're talking about an increased collection time that is going to cost the City increased resources. We had the chance to evaluate the collection times across the entire city. Both programs, single-stream recycling and incentive-based recycling, increased tonnage significantly. However, only one program increased collection costs to a point where it costs the City dollars. 7 million to our operating budget. We also did a pilot survey, because we were impressed with the 28 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 increase in tonnage with both programs. The pilot study was conducted in residential households in Chestnut Hill and in Germantown. The study asked the following questions: What was the most important reason or reward of the program you're currently participating in? Was it placing all materials in one container? Was it the additional cost or additional materials including plastics and cardboard, or was it the discounted coupons? Sixty percent of the residents that responded selected single-stream processing as the most important reason they decided they'd participate in the program. Twenty-one percent appreciated the added materials, and only 12 percent added discount coupons as the most important reward for the program. We selected single-stream recycling based on its collection efficiency, the increased tonnage and the public demand for the program. We rolled out the program to 120,000 households in 29 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 the Northeast section of the City, and instantly it had an immediate impact. Nearly a 30 percent increase in tonnage. And it stabilized over the last six months of the program at 30 percent. The increase in tonnage also increased the diversion rate. 5 percent. 5 percent in the area. Again, nearly a 30 percent increase in the diversion rate. Our plan moving forward is to implement single-stream recycling to another 93,000 households in the West and Southwest section of the City. At this time, nearly 50 percent of all residential households will have single-stream recycling at their neighborhood. The goal is to go single-stream recycling citywide. Our third goal is to utilize strategic enforcement in non-compliant 30 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 areas. Our purpose of our enforcement program is to ensure that residents comply with Section 10-717, which relates to ensuring that residents place recyclables in the proper container, not in the trash. The focus of the recycling enforcement is to encourage compliance through education first. Last year, our education program and our street teams went and visited over 250 community meetings, neighborhood associations, public official events and community special events to talk about the importance of recycling. However, when education is not enough, enforcement is necessary to ensure compliance. Our final goal is to revise the City's recycle ordinance. We believe that revising the City's recycling ordinance should be consistent with today's recycling standards, including State Act 101 and the Streets Department regulations. We would like to recommend 31 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 that we merge the Recycling Advisory Committee with the Solid Waste Advisory Committee to develop an integrated approach to solid waste management. The Commissioner talked about diversion earlier today. Diversion is not just about increasing recycling. It's also about reducing solid waste, and we need an integrated approach to do both and, finally, eliminate outdated provisions. We were pleased to be here today to present to you our plan for moving the recycling program forward. We are pleased to work with the various members of City Council, the host of members of the recycling community and the other organizations wanting to help us achieve our goals.
Thank you. ) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Ms. Hicken, are you testifying?
No. 32 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Okay. Mr. Williams, over the three years that you -- in your testimony you said in the next three years we will have citywide. Do you have a timetable? Do you have any plan as to what communities will be in what order over the next three years? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The purpose was to, first of all, outfit an entire area. We didn't want to go into part of sections in areas such as the Northeast. We didn't want to go into maybe a couple blocks here in the Northeast, couple blocks in South Philly and a couple blocks in Southwest Philly. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: You want to concentrate it to one area? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. We wanted a more concentrated approach to rolling out the process. The challenge is to transfer all of our entire fleet that has the old dual-stream process into the new single-stream collection method, which 33 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 uses compactor trucks. Of course, that takes an investment in resources, and we estimate that we need an additional $4.5 million. Not an additional cost to our budget, but it will take that long to transfer the entire fleet out of the -- into single-stream recycling using compactors. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Do you have a schedule as to what the next section of the City would be that will be part of this program? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right now we are working on evaluating where we can go through next with the amount of trucks that we needed. So we do have an idea. Certain areas like in South Philadelphia and North Philadelphia have small, tiny streets, which requires a different size truck. The reason why we selected Northeast and the Southwest section is because it's easier to navigate with the size trucks that we're currently using. But we know moving 34 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 forward in areas like South Philadelphia, North Philadelphia and Germantown we're going to need multiple-size trucks, which is going to take a different kind of investment. So, therefore, we're going to evaluate it going forward. We plan on doing another area next year. We don't have a specific area that we're going to move to next. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: And that 4.5 million is part of what you need to purchase those trucks? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's correct. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: That's part of that process. Thank you. Any questions for these witnesses?
Just a couple, Mr. Chairman. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Councilwoman Brown.
Please elaborate briefly on the role of the 35 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Mural Arts Program, and in your last screen, is this a visual we can expect to see on all of the City's street vehicles? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Absolutely. One of the goals and one of the distinctions that we have to make is that we can no longer use compactor trucks that we schedule for recycling. According to the Department of Environmental Protection, they can never be used for rubbish. So we wanted to identify our trucks as strictly used as recycling vehicles. These trucks will never be used to pick up trash. They will only be used for recycling. So as we purchase additional trucks, we will have monograms on them to identify them, reflect that they are recycling vehicles, because we don't want the public getting confused that we're throwing recyclables away as trash.
So you all have engaged into a contracting arrangement with Mural Arts? 36 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's been on a case-by-case basis, Councilwoman. The first two trucks that we rolled out in the Northeast are done, are going forward. Because it takes a little bit of time to do each truck, we may have to look at other sources, but our goal is to, first or all, use the Mural Arts Program with the wonderful job that they do in the City, but then if they can't produce or have other responsibilities, then we will go outside and hire another contractor.
And in using the Mural Arts Program, the expectation is that they will use young people of all stripes and artists of all stripes -- DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Absolutely.
-- for that unique opportunity? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Absolutely. 37 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215
Thank you very much for your testimony. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Councilwoman Miller.
Good afternoon. I just have one question for clarity. Where you already have single stream, that will stay in place; you're just going to do an expansion into West Philadelphia and South Philadelphia, I think you said, correct? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's correct.
Okay. So in Germantown I know we do have single stream, I believe. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes.
Because I think my block is a single stream block. That will all stay in place. So it's just expansion, correct? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. We will not be eliminating. The 38 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 goal is to build upon what we already have.
All right. Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Any other questions? Councilman Savage.
Good afternoon, Mrs. Tolson. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Good afternoon.
The scheduling for recycling, what is it? Biweekly, every other week? COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Throughout most of the City, it is every other week. However, in some sections of the City, it is weekly. It is weekly in much of Center City, what's considered Center City, and in the Northwest section 22 of the City.
Are you going to implement that citywide? Is that in your plan? 39 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 COMMISSIONER TOLSON: That is something that is part of our longer-range plans that we are certainly considering. The first step is to make the system prime to accept and make weekly an efficient process, but the first step is to have single-stream recycling. The path after single stream is then weekly recycling.
Councilman Ramos and I were talking a few seconds ago regarding why people stopped recycling. When you first started recycling in Philadelphia, I saw many buckets out, and I think that people got confused -- and I think we've talked about this before. (Applause.)
I think people got confused when it was no longer every week and you were wondering, Oh, is 40 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 it this week or is it next week. So I think if we can keep -- and even though it may seem that every other week is simple, you can lose track of what week you're supposed to put your recycling bucket out. And if we could eventually move to everybody doing every week, I really think -- (Applause.)
-- I really think that you'll have a better level of participation. Because when you have to start wondering which week it is -- I know we were doing that at my house, too, is it this week or is it next week, I have no idea. So it may seem simple. You may think people mark it on a calendar, but after a period of time, that doesn't happen, and that's when I started to see buckets not being put out. (Someone yelling in audience.)
Well, I won't address that issue, but someone should. 41 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 But anyway, those are my thoughts on it, because I saw in my neighborhood, it just seems like everybody was really excited in the beginning, you saw buckets out all along the blocks, and then when it got to be a little bit confusing, that's when you started seeing people not participating. The participation level went down. Thank you. ) COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: If I could follow up on Councilwoman Miller's line of questioning. This program that you laid out I think is a fantastic program. It's going to get us to where we want to get to in three years, and that's a good thing. Is there anything that can be done in relationship to the question about -- could we step up and do weekly recycling in the interim between now and that point when we have the single 42 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 stream? Has that been discussed? Is that something that's possible? And if not, I mean, I need to know that. I'm just curious, because that is a problem. And you and I have had these conversations where I'm very conscious about these things and have been for years. Well, some people say I'm confused to be in this business, but I get confused about myself on what nights to go out, because my days run into nights, my nights run into the next day and I totally forget, and I look up and down the block to see if there are any other buckets out, and that's what reminds me that today or tomorrow is my recycling day. Is there any possibility of doing that? Is it cost prohibitive, or what? COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Councilman, I think in part you've answered part of the question about why not now. Costs are an issue. To 43 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 increase the collection to a weekly basis does require additional resources that we presently do not have. That's why we believe if we can move to single-stream recycling and we're using a compactor vehicle, which can carry much more material, we can then move to a weekly collection that's more efficient. By and large, the equipment that we're using for our dual-stream collection is a rolling, open bin. They have no capacity to be able to carry much more throughout most of the City. Those bins don't have the capacity to take cardboard, because there's no compaction. They can't take plastics, because there's no compaction. And the other sad fact is that we are taking all our materials -- not sad, but the other fact is that all of our materials go to one section of the City. So the fact that we have to travel so far with loads that would be de minimis in their weight would cause a significant increase in the cost. 44 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 However, if we move first to single-stream recycling, which would mean that we're using compactor vehicles throughout the City, we can very easily, we believe, move to weekly collection without the City experiencing additional cost. Deputy Commissioner Williams, do you wish to add anything to that? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. Two years ago, Councilman, we wouldn't be having a conversation about single stream weekly, because we didn't have a process that was efficient enough to collect the materials, but now we believe that we're moving forward. I think our first step is to make sure that the entire city has single-stream recycling and then look at the efficiencies that can be gained to go to weekly recycling. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I appreciate that. Is money the big obstacle here to get us to that single 45 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 stream weekly and is that why it will take us three years or is it a logistical issue or is it a combination of the two? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's a combination of both, because the equipment -- we order the equipment and we have to go through the procurement process of placing and purchasing vehicles, which can take anywhere from six to nine months.
Also, it's a financial issue, because we are currently not using any operating money from the City's budget. Our funds are now given to us from the Department of Environmental Protection. We are looking at grant dollars each year, and depending on the amount of grant dollars and grant funds that come in is how fast that we can transition the fleet over to a compactor fleet. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: What size of financial infusion would your department need to get us the necessary equipment to move this three-year 46 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. ) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: What resources would you need? I'm not suggesting we may be able to do it. I'm just for our committee, now that we're going through our budget process, because the cost, I believe, in terms of the tipping fees and all the other stuff that we have to bear, it may behoove us -- and I'm not sure that this is the right answer, but it may behoove us to see if we can accelerate the funding for this operation and get us into that single-stream once-a-week system sooner rather than later. ) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: So it's important for us to know, again, as we're going through this budget cycle to see if there is a way in which we can maybe allocate some funds. I'm not suggesting we can. There are a lot of other things 47 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 we need to do, but I think it's certainly worth our consideration. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In addition to the grant dollars, we would need -- we calculated we would need 46 additional trucks to transfer the entire fleet. We've already purchased 14. So that means we need another 30. The projected cost or the cost right now, because costs do escalate, is about 150,000 per vehicle. 5 million. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I'm sorry. I was distracted. What was that last part of that? Thirty-something more trucks? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. We would need 30 more trucks. We would need additional grant dollars as well to cover the 30 trucks at about $150,000 each truck. 5 million, sir. 5 million in addition to the grant money or 48 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 is that -- DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. That's in grant money. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: In grant money? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's correct. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I'm missing something here. Grant money. What's the City's contribution, or it's just straight out grant money? 5, it gets you to where you need to get to? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's correct, yes. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: In lieu of the grant money? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. Well, we use grant dollars each year. 5 million. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: And that 49 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 grant money comes from? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The Department of Environmental Protection. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Federal government? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes; state. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Have we seen a reduction in that money in the last several years? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We've been averaging -- and I'm going to ask Mr. Steve Tilney to come up, because he's been working with our grant program, to give you an assessment of what we've been getting in terms of grant dollars from the Department of Environmental Protection. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Slide up a chair. You can use the Council chair. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Councilman. 50 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Identify yourself for the record, please.
Yes. My name is Steven Tilney. I'm the Recycling Program Administrator. I would like to address the grant funds. We have seen some decreases in grant funds over the last five years worth of time, but even more than that, what is happening with the grant funds is that they're being earmarked to specific activities that the state would like to see. So as an example, if the state wanted to see food waste composting, for instance, they would open up a grant pocket and say, All municipalities or all grant prospects related to food waste composting, put your grant application in. If it wasn't something that the City had an interest in at that particular time, we wouldn't have an opportunity to put a grant application in. So not only are grant funds being reduced, but the allocation of 51 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 grant funds to specific projects is hitting our ability to spend money as well. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Okay. Thank you. Thank you. So 4.5 million gets us to where we would like to be. Thank you. Any other questions? Councilman Savage.
If I could piggyback on Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, I think that the answer to better recycling is weekly recycling, but I have one question for you. I represent a lot of neighborhoods. I represent Rhawnhurst, Juniata, Kensington, Norris Square, among others. But how did you come up with weekly recycling as choosing Center City and Northwest Philadelphia? COMMISSIONER TOLSON: As part of a test or what we called a pilot at the time, we moved to try weekly in the Northwest and Center City sections of the City. In the Northwest we had a wide 52 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 variety of housing types and also frequency of participation and amount of participation. It went from the best to worst, quite frankly. In Center City, we had a housing stream that was more transient, a lot more renters, people that turned over in their housing stock a lot more. So we were trying to see could we grant some stability or could we find some improvement in the participation levels if it was weekly as opposed to every other week. So it started as a test. However, it's a test that we did not end, we simply left it in place. What we found, there were increases in Center City. The participation there remained good. In the Northwest section, however, those that were good remained good and those that were not good did not improve their recycling levels, even though there was more reliability of when to expect recycling. It was every week and then 53 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 also every week on trash day, which is another innovation that has been added to the mix to make it a little bit more easy for our citizens. So in and of itself, it did not prove to be the thing that would make people more likely to recycle. However, we believe that it is fundamental and it is important in combination with education and enforcement. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Councilwoman Miller.
I have one more question regarding enforcement. And I agree, education and enforcement is key here. What exactly will be the penalty if someone doesn't recycle? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There is no penalty for not recycling. The penalty is for placing the recyclables in the trash.
Well, that's the same. I see it as the same thing. 54 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 COMMISSIONER TOLSON: But, Councilwoman, the reason I think that we want to just clarify that, because I think it's a subtle but important distinction. You have citizens who do not recycle and they choose not to recycle, and that's okay, because if you don't have materials that are recyclable, you don't have anything to put out. So we would not want to enforce or place upon you an onus that is unfair. However -- and this is a secret, I guess, that will be out now -- that when the education and enforcement officers are out, they're looking for households that do not have recycling out. If people are recycling, no one ever looks in the trash or garbage bin. It is only when people do not recycle that they then check to see if there was a potential for recycling. And should a significant amount of recycling be found in the trash, then there's some further enforcement. 55 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215
Okay. So if recyclables are found in your trash, what is the penalty? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: A $25 citation.
And how many citations can someone get and what's the next step? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, depending on how many visits that we make that we find recyclables in the trash and not in the container. So each time that we come there, a person could potentially get as many fines as we visit that resident.
I'm sorry. Say that again. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: As many fines as we visit the residence when they are not following the law. So if we continue to visit there a number of times -- our process is to try to warn and educate first. We try to go out through community meetings. Officers are 56 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 directed to give warnings before the tickets are issued, but once that occurs and there are people that are just defiant about following the law, then enforcement of a citation is issued. If it continues, then they can get as many tickets as we visit that residence and that community.
Because a lot of times we have laws on the books, but enforcement really becomes the issue, and people ignore citations and just continue to do whatever it is they're doing that gets them that citation, and until we have some type of real enforcement, then it continues to just be a problem that escalates. The other thing I would just mention here, too, is that -- and I don't know whether you can take pictures. I really don't know how you can do this. But you know what happens when the sweep officers go out and then we get lots of calls from people that said that they did 57 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 not violate anything, and it's just kind of hard to prove, but at some point, we probably need to talk about that, because I imagine that we're going to probably start getting calls, too, when we do enforcement, even though we have to support enforcement, because if that's the only way that someone will comply. But you know the type of calls we get, and then we have to call you. So we really need to figure out a way to do this. Okay? COMMISSIONER TOLSON: I think that we would like to use enforcement as a last resource and use it sparingly. However, I think some of the numbers reflect the fact that people do not place recycling of very high on their list of priorities. And we're saying that it is important, and if it is important, we have to enforce it, and it is the law. It's an unfortunate by-product, but some people are willingly flaunting the law and willingly don't want to participate. 58 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215
Right. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: They don't feel that it meets their set of priorities. But I think that what we're saying is if you're willing to put out your trash, you have to also be willing to put out your recycling. If not just for yourself, do it for your community. If you don't want to do it for yourself, then maybe you can be incented by having a fine for it.
All right. Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Just one final question and we'll go on with the other witnesses. I would respectfully disagree on the enforcement side, in particular when it comes to the business community. They are probably the biggest violators. And I'm not getting away from recycling, but I think it all comes together with this whole issue of trash and the cleanliness and the appearance of our streets, is 59 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 businesses, especially the pizzeria guys who drop these hand bills out and flyers and stick them on everyone's either railing or somewhere between the crack in the door and then the storm door, whatever. And despite myself who has a sticker, that little sticker that says don't drop anything off, most people don't read it or whatever. I really think we need a stepped-up enforcement when it comes to that, because a lot of the complaints we get from people who may be cited, homeowners in particular, about the trash that they said, It isn't my trash, somebody may have dropped it there or the elements, the wind has blown it onto their sidewalk, a lot of that trash is these circulars that are being distributed. And I don't know if you have any cooperating abilities with the Department of License and Inspection, but I really think we need to step that up significantly, because that's causing a 60 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 lot of our trash problems. And as you and Mr. Williams knows, a couple weeks ago we had a conversation -- and I'll probably lose their endorsement, but the South Philadelphia Review is probably one of the most notorious litter establishments in South Philadelphia. Because they drop these bundles off. People who are anxious to get the paper begin removing them from the bundles. The banding gets to be kind of flimsy, and before you know it, at the end of the day, there's literally hundreds of South Philadelphia newspapers flying throughout the streets of South Philadelphia. Ultimately it winds up on someone's pavement. A street sweep officer goes by and gives the homeowner a citation for something that the local newspaper was responsible for. And I think in the education process, that maybe we need to get the message out to those folks who deliver a lot of the stuff that ultimately create the trash problems in 61 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 our streets. So I'd appreciate it if you can look into that. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Yes. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: You'll certainly get support from me and I'm sure the other members of Council when it comes to that. Any other questions for these witnesses?
One final question, Mr. Chairman. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Councilwoman Brown.
Young people in the School District and all school districts, parochial as well as the charter schools, are an important link in changing the mind set. Speak very briefly to the connect with schools. And kudos to the video, because we really do have to meet young people where they are and they're of video age, so that hopefully we'll capture their attention. And is the video available? 62 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 COMMISSIONER TOLSON: The video will be on our web page. There's a conglomeration. And those commercials will be on television. Would you like to say anything about the schools?
With regards to the School District or schools period. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. I'm going to let our new Recycling Coordinator address that, Ms. Joanie.
Thank you. Yes. Those children that you saw in the video, in the commercial and the upcoming public service announcement are all City of Philadelphia school children. We made the commitment at the outset of this campaign to target youth, have them speak for the future generations. We are also meeting with the School District currently and over the last month or so to talk about various 63 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 anti-litter initiatives, recycling and other waste management issues. So we have targeted the schools, if you will, to work with them and to utilize the children as a resource, because as we all know here, they're a very valuable resource. So we're excited.
So you're going to them with a plan, rolling it out incrementally across the District as you are with the City?
We've begun discussion with the School District regarding anti-litter, waste management and recycling issues, and we hope that they will come on board with us as we march through the City. Yes, ma'am. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Another piece of that, Councilwoman, I think what would be helpful is that part of our Philadelphia More Beautiful Committee Program, we have a component that's called the Junior Block Captain Program, 64 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 and those numbers are increasing greatly. We now have 1,000 young people under the age of who are taking leadership on 5 their block. They're the block captain, 6 but we call them junior block captain 7 because they are young folks. And part 8 of their work is to put the word out 9 about recycling for all the block 10 captains but in particular with our young 11 people. And we're trying to offer 12 encouragement to them to be our future 13 leaders and talk about the priorities for 14 our communities, which are make your 15 block a place where you can be proud, 16 make sure that it's clean, make sure 17 people follow the law and, most particularly, the recycling laws.
Well, we will look with interest to progress reports on your discussions and dialogue with the School District.
I did want to also point out that we did just have the Microsoft School come on board with the 65 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 recycling program and we delivered or had them take 500 of our recycling containers. So they're on board with recycling.
Thank you all for your testimony. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: If you would do me one favor -- I think we had this discussion before -- Councilman Greenlee, would you hold up that trash can, the trash bucket. There's one bucket between every two Councilmembers' desks. We really have no way of recycling in this room, and I think it would be helpful for us to set that example. If there's a way in which -- (Applause.) DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You will have them tomorrow. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: They'll be here tomorrow. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I'm not criticizing. I'm just asking for some 66 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 help. We generate a lot of paper in this room, especially during the budget cycle. I generally take mine back to my office and dump it in a recycling can, but sometimes we're sitting here, sometimes having something to drink. Is there a place to put glass or cans and paper, if there's a way you can put a can or two somewhere out here, that would be helpful. I think we should set that example from this room going forward.
Point taken, sir. As a matter of fact, Public Property has just been supplied with 500 additional recycling containers for this building. So I think in the next month or so, you're going to be seeing a marked improvement here as well. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: That's a great start. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other questions? Councilwoman Blackwell has joined us as well. 67 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you very much. I note those signs that say "West Philly" back there. So all of you who call me all the time about recycling, know that we're here to support it. And also I'd like to thank Deputy Commissioner Carlton Williams. We worried him so badly, until he agreed to even come to a town meeting on this issue. We worry him. We have had him send over -- we even changed your flyers, put stickers on them and told them to add this and add that. So it's very, very important and our people ask for it all the time, as is evidenced here today. You see in these Chambers that people across the City view this as a very, very important issue. And so I want to certainly thank the Chair for hosting these hearings and support the Committee in all that we can do to get all of this. So many people, like us, Mr. President, who really do want to 68 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 recycle, we'd really, really recycle every week if we could keep up with it, but we'd really like it to be every week with everything so that we could really -- (Applause.)
Thank you very much. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you for your testimony. The next panel of witnesses, Mr. Butkovitz, the City Controller, not confirmed, but is someone -- Harvey, you're speaking. Mr. Neil Seldman, Institute for Local Self Reliance, and Jack Embick, Vice-Chair, Recycling Advisory. Mr. Rice, I assume you're representing the City Controller?
Yes, Councilman. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Good afternoon, gentlemen. 69 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Mr. Rice, if we can proceed with you. Identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Harvey Rice, First Deputy City Controller in the Office of City Controller. Good afternoon, Councilman DiCicco, Councilwoman Reynolds Brown and members of the Streets and Services Committee and other members of City Council. I am Harvey Rice, First Deputy City Controller, and I'm here to present testimony on behalf of the City Controller regarding the City Controller's 2005 report, the review of the City's recycling program. I am also here with Jerry Micciulla, who is the Audit Administrator in the office of the City Controller, who led the review with the technical assistance of Robert Guzek and Associates and who is most familiar with the findings and recommendations outlined in the report. As you know, then City 70 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Controller Jonathan Saidel in 2005 issued a report titled "Review of Recycling Program" for the purpose of determining if the City's recycling program was being operated in compliance with the City ordinance and in an effective and efficient manner and to identify areas of savings to the City's operational budget and ultimately the taxpayers. One of the most significant findings of the Controller's report is that the City was only reaching and is still only reaching a residential recycling rate of six percent a year instead of the 35 to 40 percent which has been mandated since 1991. The report stated that the more the City increases its yearly percentage compliance in recycling, the more the City will save. In fact, the report estimates that for each percentage in recycling increase, the City will save $540,000 per year. If the City realizes -- 71 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 (Applause.)
If the City realizes compliance to 37.5 percent, that savings will be approximately $17 million a year. (Applause.)
This 37.5 percent figure was based on a Waste Composition Study performed for the City in 2000 and at the time of our review was the most recent study completed. Those savings would come from increased revenue in the selling of our recycled materials, including paper, and the reduction in our landfill costs. To achieve this 37.5 percent compliance and the estimated $17 million in savings, the report outlines a series of recommendations. These recommendations included to expand the pilot incentive program if deemed successful; to expand the single-stream collection program to the rest of the City; continue and expand the educational program for recycling; make periodic progress reports to the 72 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Mayor and in addition to the members of City Council; prepare and implement a detailed plan for long- and short-term program goals and to monitor performance; and to evaluate and identify additional processing sites for recycled material. While this report was issued almost two years ago, the Controller's office and the present City Controller, Alan Butkovitz, believes that if these recommendations are implemented and recycling compliance increases to the mandated amount, the City and the taxpayers will not only experience significant savings but will also help the environment in which they live. Thank you and we are happy to answer any questions. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, Mr. Rice. The other gentlemen, proceed with your testimony and then we'll open it up for questions. 73 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215
Thank you, Chairman. My name is Neil Seldman. I'm President of the Institute for Local Self Reliance in Washington, DC. It's been many years since I've been back to this City Hall and this room, but I must remind people that in the '95-'96 period, my organization was the architect of the City's solid waste management system -- recycling system. We worked for President Coleman, Councilman David Cohen and Mayor -- then City Council -- Street, City Council Verna and we worked very closely with Councilman Lucien Blackwell as well. By the way, my work in Philadelphia launched my career, so I'm very grateful for the City and for the City for having recognized the Institute and worked with the Institute. I was the advisor to the City Council for five years, from 1995 to 19 -- excuse me; 1985 to 1990. And I want to pass out a couple of booklets. First, let me say that it 74 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 was stated earlier that different cities calculate their recycling rates differently. This may be true, but according to EPA -- we prepared these books for EPA, which are case studies of urban recycling programs, and we were hired because we had a uniform method of calculation. I'll just give you one example that we do in our calculations that are not done. If you have a percent 13 recycling rate but five percent of that 14 that goes into your processing center and 15 comes out as garbage, we deduct that five 16 percent. No one else does that. 17 Therefore, our figures are considered 18 accurate. 19 And if you go through that 20 book, which was written, I believe, in 1995 -- that's 12 years ago or so -- you will see that Philadelphia is at six percent recycling. So in the years between 1995 and now, there's been absolutely no progress in the City of 75 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Philadelphia. It's actually an embarrassment, because if you go through the table at the beginning of the book, you will see other cities, and just about all of those other cities have increased to over 50 percent recycling in the same time frame. And so I want to point out that DC -- rather, sorry, Philadelphia is a very disappointing urban recycling experiment. I'm not bragging, because my city is isn't doing much better, Washington, DC, although we have taken the steps three years ago that you're about to take now, and they work quite well. I have some comments to make, but I also want to point out to you and I'll hand you this that this is available on the EPA web page. It's called Cutting the Waste Stream in Half, and it documents all cities in the country up and to the date 1999 that have reached the 50 percent level. Again, this is all 76 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 common information, and anyone who doesn't know about this is willfully ignorant of it, because recycling has grown tremendously over the last few years. Let me just point out a few things. I think in general what I heard today this morning is that the City is moving in the right direction. I have no 11 faith that this current Administration will go forward unless there's pressure from the City Council because of the track record of the last years, but 15 let me just point out one thing that I 16 think was very misleading. 17 In the videos we saw -- and I'm 18 sure I heard this. If I didn't hear it 19 correctly, I'm sure someone will correct me -- the measurement that was used in the single-stream experiment was the length of collection time, and if that's your only criteria, it's a phony criteria, because if you add a few seconds collecting recyclables, you've 77 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 got to deduct those seconds and probably more from your garbage collection program. (Applause.)
So my fear, Mr. Chairman, and other City Council members here, is that you're hearing rhetoric, but you're not seeing direct action and you're not seeing the detailed -- (Applause.)
-- the detailed planning that is required to reach 50 percent and beyond. And the only way that this City will get there is if you folks hold the hammer. Because the City Council forced this city to recycle, the first major city in the country to adopt mandatory recycling, 1986, January or March. And since then, the administrations, the successive administrations, have done absolutely nothing. The bureaucracy, the 78 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 procurement, all of these issues are really serious issues. They all have been solved in other major cities across the country, including Washington, DC. And where did Washington, DC learn it from? They took trips to other cities and started talking to other cities. And that's why it's so disappointing that Philadelphia is still at the six percent level some years after it decided to 12 recycle. And it's also disappointing to 13 hear what I would say is the right 14 rhetoric but I've seen no specific 15 actions even planned. 16 I also would like to thank the 17 gentleman for the numbers of the study. 18 I think the study is right on target. I 19 did some back-of-the-paper calculations. 20 I think the study is actually very conservative. I'm tending to think that they probably discounted the labor cost of garbage collection, because when you -- again, let me be very graphic. If you have good recycling, your garbage 79 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 trucks can go from 400 households a day to 650 households a day and you can start cutting routes. (Applause.)
And as you know, garbage collection is 80 percent of the cost of solid waste management. So once you start cutting routes and allow your garbage trucks to increase their efficiency by one-third per day, you're looking at tens of millions of dollars in savings, which I doubt -- I don't doubt the integrity of this report, but I think there are other categories which would have made the numbers even more favorable. And I note, Mr. Chairman, that you pressed the previous panel as to what can happen quickly, and I certainly applaud you, because that's the right approach. It can happen much quicker than three years. What you -- (Applause.)
You need someone 80 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 on the City Council who played the role that President Coleman and Councilman David Cohen played years ago. They wouldn't let the City go until they passed these mandatory laws, et cetera. Unfortunately, they were not strong enough. The City Council was not strong enough to stand up the or 18 years of 10 non-activity on the part of the City. So 11 whereas you're hearing some proper 12 rhetoric now, you really need a czar to 13 oversee this, because it's not going to 14 happen unless the City Council gets into 15 this issue and stays with this issue, 16 because history has proven -- 17 (Applause.) 18
History has 19 proven that Philadelphia was the first major city to recycle and now it's one of the last cities recycling in the country in terms of levels. Thank you very much for your time. (Applause. ) 81 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you.
If I could say one other thing. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Certainly.
TV and radio advertising is the most expensive and least effective way to get people to recycle. (Applause.)
You've got to get in the schools. Right after I finished my job here in Philadelphia in 1985, '86, I was hired by Sesame Street, and that's when recycling took off in this country. When Oscar the Grouch and those people who -- Oscar, by the way, who lives in a garbage can, started telling kids to recycle. And that's what you need, and you have to start at kindergarten and you cannot -- you just have to get into the schools, and I didn't hear any of that. I know they're talking. They're talking. They're talking. School bureaucracies are hard to deal with. I understand 82 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 that. Nonetheless, this is an emergency. It's not only a national and global emergency; it's an economic emergency. You're throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars a year by your slow and inefficient recycling. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you for your inspiring testimony. I appreciate that. Would you be able to compare us with -- how would you compare Philadelphia to another city of similar size and with the similar kind of infrastructure, small, narrow streets that were never built for cars, no less trucks?
Let's take -- I'll give you a couple of cities. One city is Washington, DC, which was way behind Philadelphia, believe me. In fact, my boss told me I can't even talk to the city anymore. This goes back a few years. However, we got a new Mayor, 83 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Mayor Anthony Williams, a few years ago. He was a bean counter. He started counting beans and he started pushing recycling. And in the eight years, we went from six percent to percent. 7 It's not great. It's okay. You have to 8 understand that Mayor Williams inherited 9 a completely broken-down system and he 10 had to rebuild it, and I give him great 11 credit for it. 12 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: So he had 13 other challenges beside that. 14
That is correct, 15 sir. That is correct. But DC is 16 500,000. I know you folks are about one 17 and a half million. If you go to -- San Francisco is 800,000. They're at about 55 percent. Los Angeles is much bigger and very complex city. They're over 50 percent at this point. Worcester, Massachusetts is over 50 percent, an industrial city up in Massachusetts. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Similar 84 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 kind of infrastructure in terms of the street sizes? We have --
These are -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: We have challenges -- I'm not making excuses -- because of some of the narrower streets.
Yes. And I did hear the Commissioner say that Center City was different from the outer rings of the City. She's absolutely correct. For example, if you wanted to increase recycling immediately at a bottom budget, all you would have to do for the suburban ring where your alleys are bigger and so forth is add a $2,000 trailer to your garbage truck and use that. On the other hand, I heard someone say that the City needed four and a half million dollars to buy new trucks. I don't believe that's true. I think there's a surplus of trucks in this City's inventory, and I know that Maurice Sampson is going to be speaking later and he will give you details on that. Some people calculate 85 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 there are over a hundred available trucks. So you don't have to purchase new trucks. The idea that you have to dedicate garbage trucks only and recycling only is not true, because you can clean these trucks out and put them on route for another purpose. The other important thing that we learned in DC -- and I am an advisor to the DC DPW at this time -- is that when you simplify your truck fleet, you save a fortune in fleet maintenance, because if you only have one kind of truck, the number of parts you have, the amount of training you have to do, everything becomes simpler. And there was no fleet management system more screwed up than Washington, DC. It's fixed now. It's fixed because Mayor Anthony Williams put time and money into the issue. And we have a wonderful DPW head, Tom -- head of the solid waste division, Tom Henderson, and I suggest 86 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 you all make a visit to DC. I also suggest you stop off in Baltimore and see Second Chance, which is a reuse store, deconstruction of buildings. There are ordinances you folks can pass right now that can save hundreds of millions of tons of construction and demolition debris going to landfill simply by passing an ordinance. Copy it from San Francisco. Every building that has to come down has to have a recycling and deconstruction plan. You'll also stimulate jobs. My calculation is that if 1.5 million people recycle 50 percent of the waste, you'll create about 1,500 to 2,000 jobs and you'd add about $2 billion to your local economy. (Applause.)
And that doesn't account for the diversion savings, which are another millions of dollars, which I haven't calculated. But there are a couple of 87 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 cities that have such great plans for you to look as the City Council. The City of Palo Alto has a zero waste plan. Everybody knows you're not going to get to zero waste, but unless you strive for zero waste, you won't get to 60, 70, 80 percent. Los Angeles just commissioned a group, including myself, to do a zero waste plan for the City of Los Angeles. These things are happening all across the country. There's a literal tarantella, rapid activity. Everyone is moving toward recycling. One, because the markets have never been higher. The industrialization of China and India have brought junk paper to the value of $110 a ton. That's junk paper. Clean paper like this is 260 a ton. The markets are remarkable for plastic, glass. And when they do dip down, as all markets do, they dip down five, ten percent and then they move back up, because the population of the world is going crazy and everybody needs materials, and the Chinese and the 88 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Indians are buying it up like mad, driving these prices up. So this is the time not only to start your recycling but to lock in long-term contracts to get these high prices locked in, and companies will do that. You have one company operating in Philadelphia, RecycleBank, and it's a joint venture between -- (Applause.)
-- RecycleBank and Blue Mountain Recycling, I believe. Forgive me if I'm getting the words wrong. Well, this program has proved so effective that -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: They will be testifying.
Yes. That's good. I'm glad they are. Twenty minutes away from here in Wilmington they just decided to go citywide because of their demonstration pilot. So you have the resources, but 89 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 no one is cracking the whip. And I'm telling you, I've been doing this for 35 years, this Administration, the current people operating the recycling program, whether it's willful or not, they are not doing the right things, they're not doing them fast enough and they're not following the state-of-the-art that's happening in cities across the country. (Applause.)
I'll end one other -- to give praise to New York City. As you may know, two or three years ago, Mayor Blumberg, a big successful businessman, thought he could save $15 million a year by cutting recycling. He did it. They wound up losing 35 million, and now New York City is investing in recycling. So it's very clear what the pattern is, and every day that you don't go citywide with all these programs, you're throwing money out the window. And it doesn't take three years. 90 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you again. (Applause.)
Councilman DiCicco -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I need for you to speak into the microphone, sir, and identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
My name is Jack Embick. I'm the Vice-Chairman of the Recycling Advisory Committee. I was appointed by Mayor Rendell on August 17, 1999. I'm a lawyer in private practice and my office is located on Market Street. I've submitted my updated financial disclosure information to the City in connection with my service on the RAC. I have no direct financial interest in recycling or any business. I'm a citizen volunteer and I'm not happy. This is a story of missed 91 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 opportunities. This is a story of how the RAC and the Interagency Task Force -- these are groups with legal mandates -- have been largely ignored by the Streets Department and left to wither and die. As a consequence, the Streets Department has missed many, many opportunities to get valuable input from recycling professionals and activists. And Philadelphia could use it, and the reason why Philadelphia could use it is that the recycling rate in Philadelphia is embarrassingly low. It's a disgrace. This is a City program that held such promise, but it's mired in mediocre performance. The only bright spot is the single-stream recycling program and the incentive-based recycling program. (Applause.)
In fact, I'll go so far as to say that the conduct of the Streets Department in the City of Philadelphia with respect to the 92 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 operation and support of the Recycling Advisory Committee and the Interagency Task Force is arguably unlawful. (Applause.)
The RAC and the Interagency Task Force are legally constituted bodies under the Code of Philadelphia. They have specific responsibilities under Philadelphia law. The RAC and the Interagency Task Force were formed in 1987 with the passage of the City Council Bill 1251-A. These changes were codified and placed into The Philadelphia Code and they appear in Chapter 10-700, titled "Refuse and Littering," as well as in other chapters. This ordinance constituted the RAC and the Interagency Task Force and gave them specific duties, and you'll find them in Section 10-717, Section 3. The Interagency Task Force's responsibility is to promulgate regulations, develop and implement education, establish recycling centers, 93 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 and achieve the goals that are set forth in the ordinance. The use of the Interagency Task Force governance model demonstrates that the City of Philadelphia was to inculcate recycling and a strong recycling effort into all areas of the City's operations. Now, how often do you think that the Interagency Task Force has met in the time that I was appointed? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I have a feeling you're going to tell us.
Not many times, sir. I only know of one. How many reports do you think that the Recycling Advisory Committee has submitted to City Council in connection with legal obligations under the City Charter and The Philadelphia Code? Not many times. And the RAC, the Recycling Advisory Committee, is a body that's designed to create regulations, give advice and make proposals to the 94 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Interagency Task Force for recycling and to achieve recycling goals. The RAC is a unique resource which could help improve recycling in Philadelphia. The sad fact is that the Streets Department ignores us. They probably wish that we would give up. Our request for membership appointments are ignored. Our need for basic support and services, withheld. Our request for information are largely denied, ignored or deflected. When we ask for things, they routinely say, Put it in writing. The primary example of this -- and I'll look them in the eye. The primary example of this is the recycling action plan. The last meeting of the Recycling Advisory Committee was this past Tuesday. Do you think the Streets Department would share the recycling action plan with the RAC? No. 23 No. We hear today about the recycling advisory action plan. This is not right. And so what do we want? What 95 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 does the Recycling Advisory Committee want? We want the City Council to press for our appointments. You can't have a RAC if you don't have any members. And our membership is small and dwindling and our appointments are pending with the City. We want you to press for our appointments. We want you to press the Streets Department to reconstitute the Interagency Task Force. We want you to encourage the Streets Department to support the RAC and seek its input in a meaningful way. We want you to increase the City -- to ask the City to increase the level of procurement of recycled materials. Because if you don't have markets for recycled materials, you're not going to go anywhere in this City. And so with those requests, we're hopeful that the City Council will move ahead and increase the rate of recycling in Philadelphia. There are so many benefits that would be achieved if that were to happen. 96 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Thank you very much, sir. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you all for your testimony. We have just been joined by Councilwoman Carol Campbell. Are there any questions for these witnesses from the Committee? (No response.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, gentlemen. Seeing none, I will ask the next panel. We had Panel 2, the EPA and DEP, but they are not attending. Panel 3, Bob Anderson, Blue Mountain; Patrick Fitzgerald, RecycleBank; Bob Pierson, Committee and Partnership Recycling; and if there are any representatives from the City unions, please come to the witness table.
While they're coming, Mr. Chairman. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Yes. I'm sorry. Councilwoman.
Not at 97 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 all. Let me say a special thanks to Dr. Fran Byers and Ms. Ruth Melman who are here from Spruce Hill and Cedar Park and with whom there are regular meetings on this issue. We thank them for being here with their signs and for working hard on this issue. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. I would also like to -- (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: -- just point out that I know some people will be leaving. It's going to be my recommendation to this Committee that at the end of today's hearing, we will recess to the call of the Chair. That way we will keep this discussion going on from now until the time we at least recess in June, and I think that will just keep the ball moving. And as we go through the budget process, hopefully we can figure out a way maybe of getting some additional money, as I said earlier. I'm not making that a promise, but 98 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 certainly promise to try to do that. But I think it's in everyone's best interest that we continue this to the call of the Chair so that we may have to have another hearing sometime between now and the middle of June.
The last gentleman who spoke representing the Advisory Committee, could we have a copy of his testimony? COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Sir, did you have a copy?
Yes. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Would you make a copy available to me? And I'll have it distributed to the other members of Council.
Thank you, sir. 99 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Gentlemen, decide who goes first. Identify yourself for the record, please.
Since I was at the onset, I'll begin. My name is Bob Anderson. I do have packets with a statement to be passed out. So I have a written statement that I was going to read, but because of limited time, I'll leave it open for questions. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: If you want to summarize it, that will be fine, whatever you're comfortable with.
Yes. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the City of Philadelphia, City Council, Streets and Services Committee. Blue Mountain Recycling is a wholly owned division of FCR Recycling and has been processing recycled materials in the City of Philadelphia since 2000. We have supported the City 100 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 of Philadelphia recycling program for over seven years. Blue Mountain currently processes all of the residential recyclable materials collected by the City under a long-term contract that was awarded through the competitive bidding process. Additionally, Blue Mountain Recycling supports the private sector in commercial recycling within the City of Philadelphia, processing over 10,000 tons per month from the Philadelphia region, including South Philadelphia and Delaware. Blue Mountain's facility is located on Ellsworth Street near the intersection of Grays Ferry Avenue and Washington Avenue in a KOZ, a Keystone Opportunity Zone. I'd like to take this opportunity to invite the Committee members or any other Councilmembers interested in a tour of Blue Mountain Recycling at your earliest convenience. Within the packet is my card if you're 101 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 interested in a tour of Blue Mountain. In June of 2003, Blue Mountain Recycling invested in new state-of-the-art processing equipment to handle single-stream residential collection. Single-stream recycling is a collection method where all paper fibers and containers are collected in a single compaction vehicle at the curb. The City of Philadelphia and the Streets Department are to be congratulated on its progressive decision to implement the single-stream collection. Single-stream recycling results in increased volume growth through increased participation and expansion of commodities collected, while reducing City collection costs. Within the next 12 months, Blue Mountain will make additional investments to increase the efficiency of our processing systems. Blue Mountain Recycling has created nearly 80 new jobs in the City of Philadelphia and is excited -- 102 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 (Applause.)
-- and is excited at the prospect of continuing its goal of increased recycling. We have accomplished our mission through offering and supporting the most innovative processing methods and collection ideas in the industry. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you. Next gentleman.
Hi. My name is Patrick Fitzgerald. I'm the President and Co-Founder of RecycleBank. I don't have a written statement, but let me explain very briefly what RecycleBank is and how we got started, for those of you who don't know. RecycleBank was launched with the idea of dramatically increasing recycling rates through the use of financial incentives or rewards. How we do that is, RecycleBank partners with local and national businesses. Whole 103 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Foods, Starbucks, Home Depot, Target, Acme, Shop Rite, Reading Terminal Market, McNally's Tavern, White Dog Cafe, companies like that partner with RecycleBank to essentially pay households based on how well and how often they recycle. To break it down very simply, households in the RecycleBank program receive a RecycleBank container that, through the partnership with Blue Mountain Recycling, households can put all of their recyclables in the RecycleBank container. Paper, plastic, cardboard, junk mail, pretty much everything in their household that they can recycle goes into a RecycleBank container. That container has an RFID chip. In layman's terms, just a bar code registered to that address. On the recycling day, that RecycleBank container is measured and weighed. That weight and participation is then translated into a RecycleBank dollar amount. Typically on 104 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 average households earn over 400 RecycleBank dollars a year. They can use that all at Whole Foods, they can use it all at Starbucks or they can use it at Reading Terminal Market or McNally's Tavern, all those businesses I listed. A little bit of the history on how the RecycleBank program got started in Philadelphia. Before I get started, I will say that Philadelphia should be commended for being the first city in the country to implement the RecycleBank program. We launched with the City of Philadelphia in Chestnut Hill and West Oak Lane in 2005 with about 2,500 homes. While there may be some debate as to how high and how well the program did, I would argue that most households in the RecycleBank program are extremely pleased with the program. They are allowed to put all their recyclables in one container and they're getting paid to do so. 105 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 With the 400 RecycleBank dollars that households have earned in the RecycleBank program over two years, you're looking at about $2 million worth of economic development that's provided to those households in the program. Currently, we are still in negotiations with the City of Philadelphia to expand the RecycleBank program throughout all neighborhoods in the City. (Applause.)
Based on the success of the Philadelphia pilot program, RecycleBank has launched in numerous other cities throughout the region, in Delaware, in New Jersey. We're going to be launching in the spring in New England. We're negotiating with Charlotte, Atlanta, Boston. But one city in particular I want to highlight that shows you the power of the RecycleBank program and how quickly and how smoothly you can implement the program is the City 106 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 of Wilmington. Six months ago, we launched a pilot program with the City of Wilmington, which had a zero percent recycling rate. Six months later they had a 50 percent recycling rate in those neighborhoods. (Applause.)
As a result of that success, recently RecycleBank just signed a contract with the City of Wilmington to provide the RecycleBank service citywide. I want to take a minute real quick to address the operational concerns that were highlighted in the video earlier. One of the things that's very important to understand about recycling in general, typically the more you recycle, there is going to be more time to collect materials. There is no doubt about that. The two converse points that need to be recognized is that if you're recycling more, that means you're stopping at more homes, and that's a good 107 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 thing. Additionally, there is no way to have a proper and successful recycling program without a containerized method; i.e., the video we saw there earlier. That allows sanitation workers to, instead of bending over and making four trips to the sidewalk, make one trip to the sidewalk, wheel the RecycleBank container over, pull the lever and it goes into the sanitation vehicle. So while there are some complexities and there are some increased time on the recycling side, one other issue you need to look at is also how much decreased time you're picking up trash. Finally, the major point that the RecycleBank program brings is, while it's very successful in recycling, it's economic development. If you're paying households $400 a year in RecycleBank dollars, look at the City of Philadelphia, for example. It's 500,000 homes. That's $20 million in economic development that you have national 108 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 businesses like Target and Starbucks and Whole Foods invested but also the local businesses who are part of the program, and households are shopping locally. (Applause.)
While we're very pleased with our experience and our successes so far in Philadelphia and we look forward to expanding our program, we hope that City Council would urge the Streets Department and the City of Philadelphia in general to expand the RecycleBank program. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Mr. Pierson.
Yes. Good day, Councilman, my own Councilman. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Identify yourself. And for the sake of the folks that are in this room, just because certain Councilpeople may not be here, that does not necessarily mean that 109 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 they're not paying attention. Sometimes they're back in their offices with other meetings and this can be -- this is being broadcast through all the Council offices. So just because they're not here in person doesn't necessarily mean they're not paying attention. Thank you. Mr. Pierson.
Thank you for the opportunity to present this testimony today. I am here to talk about the Philadelphia Partnership Recycling Program. This is a partnership between the Streets Department, its collection crews, community groups and community volunteers. The program was established in 1992 to provide Philadelphia citizens with a way to recycle materials not collected in the City's curbside recycling program. Many of the participating groups dropped out of the program when the curbside program expanded in '93 to serve all Philadelphia 110 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 neighborhoods, leaving only three groups collecting mixed paper and plastics, the materials that were not collected back then. Since then, the program has expanded to include community groups, 8 dozens of volunteers and thousands who 9 participate who pitch in to collect about 10 a thousand tons of mixed paper and 11 plastic every year. The communities 12 served are Cedar Park, Powelton Village, 13 Center City at 22nd and Spruce, Chestnut 14 Hill, Roxborough, Queen Village, Mt. Airy, Northern Liberties, Fairmount, Northeast Philadelphia at the Lincoln High School, Olney, community group with children at 60th and Pine, Ridge Park and Fishtown. For their volunteer efforts, these community-based recycling efforts have earned over half a million dollars in incentive money from the City as well as over $100,000 from selling the recyclables as commodities to local 111 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 industries and recently, within the last two years, to Blue Mountain where Bob Anderson works. Since '92, the incentive earnings that they've earned from the City have been spent in the broad public interest; for example, for tree plantings, vacant lot clean-ups, community gardens, support for community newsletters, police mini stations, Town Watch equipment, homeless shelters and environmental education materials for after-school programs. The projects funded are small but make a big difference at the neighborhood level. One of the partnership communities, Chestnut Hill, has materials collected curbside through the pilot RecycleBank program. Members of this community have donated over $8,000 worth of RecycleBank coupons to a Chestnut Hill tree planting fund. If an incentive-based curbside program were to be implemented citywide, many of the 112 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 partnership groups could create similar projects funded by corporate sponsors and resident donation of coupons, providing a similar source of income for neighborhood-scale projects as we have done over the last years. 8 With the implementation of 9 single-stream collection at curbside, the 10 community groups will discuss with the 11 Streets Department the future of their 12 collection programs. Some groups will 13 end their programs now since all the 14 materials they collect are collected at 15 curbside. Others valuing the good works that they have funded with the program income and the stronger communities that have resulted from their members joining in a common effort through recycling will wish to continue their programs as they are or change to meet other challenges in recycling. Thank you very much. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. 113 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215
Chairman DiCicco, distinguished Councilmen and Councilwomen, I am David Mora, Vice-President of AFSCME Local 2187. Thank you for allowing the union to testify at today's hearing. Local 2187 represents the technical and professional employees of the City of Philadelphia. We represent the recycling specialists in the unit. We believe that the recycling program to be underdeveloped and does not have a thoroughly conceived plan. The union has not seen a plan. What we have seen is a draft of a plan that indeed sets goals and objectives but is short on detail and substance. It lacks tasks to accomplish the goals, who is to perform tasks, what resources will be needed to complete tasks. There are no time lines. There are no tools to measure the success and to replan when outcomes do not achieve the plan's aims. This has left our members 114 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 confused and has created hardships in the unit. We believe it is important for our members to have input in the plan design and to know what the plan is when it is adopted. Staffing is another issue. In the Streets Department Recycling Unit, we represent two employees. The Unit at its height had employees, with at least 11 11 being technical and professional 12 employees. At one time Philadelphia was 13 a recycling leader. Other cities would 14 come to Philadelphia for advice on 15 recycling. It is my understanding that 16 the Recycling Unit won special awards for 17 its innovations. 18 We believe it can happen again. 19 We believe that the Recycling Unit can be 20 a vital unit servicing the City of 21 Philadelphia. We believe that the City, 22 the Streets Department, the unions and 23 the various community groups working together, we can create a comprehensive plan that has goals and objectives and 115 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 clear tasks, tools to measure success and replanning when goals and objectives are not met. We believe that if the City and the Department is serious about recycling, it needs to develop an adequate staff, a unit of professional employees to move forward to the goal of 35 percent to 40 percent of MSW diverting to recycling. Please remember, a one percent increase in the diversion rate is worth $540,000 in savings. Thank you. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Mr. Mora, there was testimony earlier from the Streets Commissioner and her staff and there was subsequent testimony -- I don't remember who it was -- mentioned something -- we were talking about the issue of trucks. The Streets Department says they need an additional 33, 34 trucks that will be able to handle the full-stream recycling 116 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 program. The other gentleman who testified said something that he believes that we already have the trucks. Do you know anything about the issue of equipment? Do we have the equipment in place? Could it be retrofitted? Is there any discussion going on about that?
Well, we haven't had any discussion with them on that. Our local represents the professional employees. We're not the District Council 33 local. But we haven't had any discussions with them on the availability of trucks. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Mr. Anderson, Blue Mountain, I assume you're a national company?
Well, FCR is a national company. We have recycling 22 facilities up and down the East Coast. 23 Our sole responsibility or our sole 24 mission is recycling, which includes vertical integration and commodity 117 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 markets. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: How does that work? Do we pay you for the recycled materials that you process or do you pay us?
We're the ones that paid, I think it was, 1.2 million. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: You were paid?
We pay the City. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: So the more materials you get --
The more value there is returned to the City. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Here's where I'm going with this line of questioning, and I know it's probably easier said than done, because we have a very antiquated Charter system in the City that requires a bidding process that 118 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 kind of slows things down considerably: Has your company ever engaged in investing, making the financial investment to the municipality that will enable them to have the infrastructure, the equipment that would be necessary, that would basically translate into more collections, advancing the money, if you will, for the purpose of getting more materials, which ultimately enhances your profit margin?
We do have private-public partnerships with other municipalities. Essentially, those partnerships are -- we have the expertise in processing. It's a very complicated process. It's not something that you can just kind of buy the equipment and start running it. So with the experience that we have in processing, we have entered into private-partner partnerships where we've entered 5, 10, 15, 20-year agreements to process material. Good examples locally 119 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 are Camden County, New Jersey; Cape May County, New Jersey; Morris County; our contract with the County of Mecklenburg in North Carolina, which is basically the City of Charlotte. We have a number of those relationships. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: So you make a financial investment into the municipality's infrastructure in return for having a contract that obviously gives you enough time to recoup that investment and also have the ability to make a profit?
I mean, they're structured many ways. A lot of municipalities want to make the capital investment in the equipment and bring us on board to have the expertise for design. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Well, that's kind of what we're doing. The Streets Department is looking for another 4.5 million to get the additional trucks. I'm looking at the business aspect of it. 120 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Is there a possibility -- and you haven't had this discussion, I assume. Has there ever been any discussion where Blue Mountain would make that initial investment?
FCR does not operate any rolling stock. We're strictly processors. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: But you get the material from the rolling stock.
Correct. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Again, thinking as a businessperson, would it make sense or is it something at least -- and you may not have the answer today -- to talk about to the principals at Blue Mountain, would they be willing to make the initial investment in the rolling stock on behalf of the City of Philadelphia in return for a long-term contract that would allow them to recoup 121 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 that investment of 4.5 million, or whatever that number is? Wouldn't it make sense from a business perspective?
Certainly we would be interested in sitting down with Commissioner Tolson, Deputy Williams and having those kinds of conversations. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Because City dollars are always limited, as you know, and I think we can get to that 4.5, but the object here is to get to there as quickly as we can. And if it makes good business sense and there's some way we can -- the legal minds of the Law Department and the City Controller's office could figure that out, I think it's a win-win for everyone.
I mean, one of the things about FCR and Blue Mountain is, we're always looking for innovative ways to make a win-win situation. So certainly that would be something that we would discuss. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I would 122 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 encourage your company maybe to approach the City Commissioner and maybe have some of those decisions, and if there's anything we can do on our end, we would certainly be willing to do that. Again, the object here is to get to that single stream --
Single stream throughout the entire City. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Right.
With once-a-week collection. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other questions? ) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Commissioner Tolson, I understand you'd like to return to the witness table? COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Yes. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Please come forward. Would you gentlemen make room 123 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 for her. And maybe you might want to wait there. Are these questions or responses in relation -- you gentlemen can have a seat. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Councilman, we just wanted to provide clarification on a couple of points. Deputy Commissioner Williams has a few points and then I'll finish with one last one. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thanks again, Councilman. We heard testimony today in reference to the market rate for recyclable material, and I just want to be clear and it would be irresponsible for me not to inform this Council about the fluctuation of the market rate and the volatility. When the Controller's office report reported of the significant savings, a lot of it was overstated for a number of reasons, the price for paper. 124 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 For a number of reason, it fluctuates. The system that they based the savings on was under the old dual-stream system, and if we convert to single-stream recycling, as our processors can testify, that price drops significantly. So it does affect the savings. We want to be clear and realistic on the amount of dollars that's out there and available for our department to be able to try to work towards. We can see that we need to improve recycling in the City, but we want to understand and we want the people here to understand that the market rate for recyclable material fluctuates and the savings is not as easy as a cookie-cutter approach to the savings that's stated that's out there. For example, right now for single-stream recycling material, the rate for all material that we're receiving is $8. It is scheduled to go up, from my understanding, but, again, we just want 125 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 to make sure when that report was written that this is not something that's maybe readily available this year and beyond. We want Council to understand that as well. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Let me ask you a question while you're here. I think it was Mr. Seldman mentioned something about he believes in his opinion that we already have the trucks available. Could you comment on that? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Absolutely. We do not have 100 trucks sitting around available, not being used. And I just want to highlight real quickly what services those trucks provide. We have a total of about 265 compactor trucks in our fleet. One-hundred and seventy-six are used for rubbish; 17 of them are used for recycling collection; 13 of them are used to compliant trucks that are not on rubbish routes. We assist also the project PHA, the Philadelphia Housing 126 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Authority, in picking up at some of those sites. Citizens drop-off are another location. Illegal dumping and short dumping, those compactors are used as well for compact. So each day 221 trucks are used for a variety of services. Now, we have to maintain an outage rate because of mechanical break-downs at some time. That outage rate is done so that there will be no 12 interruption in services. So our entire fleet is being used to its maximum capacity each day. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: So you need additional trucks for the recycling, you're saying. You can't use any of the existing trucks? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Again, Councilman, I just want to clarify, it's not additional trucks. It's a transformation from the old fleet to a new fleet. So this wouldn't be additional trucks on top of what we already have. There would be replacing 127 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 the old open-air dual compactors -- the dual trucks and replacing it with compactors.
COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Are any of the trucks that we have, are they capable of being retrofitted to the recycling mechanism? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not the dual. Not the open-air dual-stream trucks, no. 12 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Commissioner, did you want to speak? COMMISSIONER TOLSON: Yes. The other thing that I think there's some lack of clarity on, I heard a concern that there's a desire by RecycleBank to expand the pilot that we have right now, and, in fact, the Streets Department has worked with RecycleBank, I think, for about nine months to a year on an agreement, and we developed that agreement with the Law Department and with RecycleBank. I have that agreement that says that the Streets Department was 128 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 willing to expand the RecycleBank pilot program. I'm signing it here in front of Council, and I give it to RecycleBank to do the same. ) COMMISSIONER TOLSON: The cover letter is the cover letter from RecycleBank that's dated from November. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. It's a great theatre. I hope you don't decide to run against me some day.
It's an excellent gesture on behalf of the Commissioner. Unfortunately, we are a privately held for-profit company. I need to go back to the Board to make sure that -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Make sure it's all legal. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: That's the one that we developed together, the same one with your cover letter.
I wouldn't doubt that. 129 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. I have one more question for the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner. You heard my comments to Mr. Anderson of Blue Mountain about is there a way in which -- and Blue Mountain and Mr. Anderson has to go back to his company -- if there was a way in which a certain financial investment on behalf of Blue Mountain were to be made through the City of Philadelphia Streets Department to expedite the acquisition or purchase of those new vehicles, if it works out from a business point of view for Blue Mountain, is that something that you think you can talk about? I understand the issues with the Charter and the RFP stuff, but I think it's something worth pursuing, because you may be able to get the monies that we need a lot sooner rather than later. COMMISSIONER TOLSON: We'll certainly look into that, Councilman. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I 130 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 appreciate if you could have that conversation and get back to us. Yes, sir.
Another comment I'd like to make on that is that one of the things that RecycleBank potentially could do is reach out to our corporate partners that we partner with, because they made a lot of investment in the program statewide and regionwide, and there's a chance that they might consider doing something like that as well. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Any other questions, comments? (No response.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you all again. Next panel -- (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: -- Maurice Sampson, Recycling Alliance; Evan Belser, Clean Water Action; Emily Linn, Clean Air Council; and Christine Knapp, PennFuture. (Applause.) 131 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Good afternoon, everyone. Mr. Sampson, are you starting? Whatever way you choose.
Good afternoon. It's good to see you again. My name is Maurice Sampson. I live at 129 West Gorgas Lane in Mt. Airy. I am the President of Niche Waste Reduction and Recycling Systems. I serve as the Chair of the Recycle Now campaign, which is a project of the Recycling Alliance of Philadelphia. Twenty-two years ago this past May I was appointed as the City's first Recycling Coordinator under Mayor W. Wilson Goode. Since that time and despite continuous public advocacy, mandatory city and state recycling laws, funding support, talented full-time staff and a series of successful curbside recycling program pilots, the City Administration has failed to deliver a credible citywide program. It is a 132 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 testimony to institutional resistance. While the City of Philadelphia landfills or incinerates on 95 percent of its trash, the average municipality in the United States recycles percent. 7 Philadelphia, hovering somewhere around 8 five percent, maintains the second lowest 9 rate among America's largest city. 10 Ultimately, the fault in this 11 poor performance is ours, ours as 12 citizens for spending too many years 13 complaining to each other about what we 14 don't have and, until recently, too 15 little effort directing our concerns to 16 you and to our elected officials, our 17 elected officials in City Council and the 18 Mayor. Delivering that message has been 19 the goal of the Recycle Now campaign. 20 It's a public information, education and 21 civic action campaign. Our mission is a 22 citywide implementation of curbside 23 recycling, providing weekly curbside 24 collection of all recyclable and organic materials for every resident in 133 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Philadelphia. To date, our efforts have led to the collection of more than 10,000 petition signatures and the formation of chapters in five areas of the City, all of whom are amply represented today in the audience. (Applause.)
We have no 11 illusions to what is possible as a result of today's events, but we have very great expectations for the future. It is our resolve to win the enthusiasm of this Council and to assure whoever is elected Mayor next November that he will have the political resolve and the continuing political public commitment to implement an incentive-based curbside recycling program akin to that offered by RecycleBank. As I sit before you today, the question is, what are we to do to develop a credible recycling program? I want to offer the following recommendations for 134 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 the Committee's consideration: First of all, the Streets Department's enforcement program needs to be revised immediately. My family was among those receiving a citation, and to be specific, my wife was named as the violator. The code notice was delivered three months after it was written. The court date was set for 10 months later, in the middle of the work 11 week and the middle of the day. This is 12 an onerous process seemingly desired to 13 raise funds more so than to modify 14 behavior. 15 The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the Streets Department issued some 85,000 citations in 2006, collecting $1.2 million from those who paid or lost appeal. I recommend that Council insist, insist that the Streets Department institute a three-strike process, a warning, a visit and then, and only then, a citation, as outlined in the Controller's report on for all violations. 135 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 We need to insist that the confusion regarding the City's current collection program be resolved. Depending on where you live in the City, we have five different recycling programs, each with different requirements. Despite spending a million dollars a year promoting recycling and employing several professional PR firms, instructions on participation remain confusing and often conflicting. A vivid case in point, just this last week I received an e-mail by a resident in Mt. Airy. She currently receives weekly collection, but was informed by the Streets Department that her collection would be every other week. The resident was so confused she had resolved to simply stop recycling. If we have five different programs and we have the talent available to us, there's no reason why we can't have five different sets of information to make it clear how to participate. 136 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 I would ask that you appeal to the John Street Administration to direct the Streets Department to develop and implement a plan to develop every household in the City with single-stream recycling by October to include cardboard and plastics. (Applause.)
Our processor is ready and willing to take the materials. We're not talking about making changes in collection schedules. We're talking about making changes in equipment. Give them compactors instead of the small vehicles. Let's stop accepting the excuses of what's not possible. Let's try and find out what it is that we can do when we decide we'd like to make something happen. (Applause.)
Absolutely insist that the role of the Recycling Advisory Committee be fully respected as intended 137 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 in the legislation. The RAC is not a group of unreasonable fanatics. They are select professionals who were part of the prior success of this program. You need to consider, I believe, the committee having a representative or a liaison to the committee as a member. There's so much information we're hearing for the first time after looking for it for years we heard today because we have this meeting. That's what the RAC is about. Quite frankly, over the years that Al Dezzi was here, you never heard from the citizens in the community because they were part of the process, and as the process went, everything was growing, and every report you got every year, it was about progress. We need to bring that back, and it starts, quite frankly, by making sure that the RAC is an effective body and that information flows regularly and not only when it's convenient. Protect the Partnership 138 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Recycling Program. While this might not be the least expensive option, it pays for itself while providing a civic service that is priceless. This program is part of a legacy that dates back 80 years. It goes through the hippies, through the Boy Scouts and to the wagon brigades of the Second World War, raising money to support the troops and community projects. For many who use it, it is the only recycling opportunity that they trust. If the program is ended prematurely -- and, mind you, it probably is going to end one day and not too far in the future. If it's done too soon, it's not likely to be revived. Don't allow it to be cut off until we are comfortable with the alternative. I want to recommend that City Council -- or I would like to recommend that this Committee get City Council to adopt a resolution accepting the Controller's report as the blueprint and guide for the next Mayor. We need to 139 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 call for the development of a comprehensive plan, a budget and a performance schedule to be completed in the first year of the Administration. The goal is to implement a citywide incentive-based curbside collection for all recyclable and organic materials by every resident of Philadelphia by the end of his first term of office December 2012. I'm going to be very clear about this. We don't have any great expectations that we're going to see any great amount of activity in production out of the current group. Why? Because we haven't seen it. We have not seen it to date. I believe that what they presented about talking about doing, the single stream, is probably the best that we can expect. It is the Mayor and only the Mayor that can really lead and make this happen. I really think that it is well worth all of our efforts to put together 140 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 a real clear message for what it is that we expect while right now when everybody running for Mayor is listening. Thank you. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Evan.
Thank you. My name is Evan Belser. Thank you for having me today. I'm a community organizer with Clean Water Action. I'm also a member of the City's Recycling Advisory Committee and I sit on the steering committee for the Recycle Now Philadelphia campaign. I'm going to take my minute or two here to discuss the environmental considerations, which oftentimes are overlooked, and it might be very similar to what Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown heard this morning. As most years, this year about 700,000 tons of material are going to be put to the curb and the City is going to 141 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 collect it, and the fact is, it's going to go in one or two places. It's going to be a trash truck or a recycling truck. And the choice there has dire -- depending what you do has amazing impacts on the environment. And so for the material that's put into a trash truck, it's going to be incinerated or dumped into a landfill, both of which are environmentally disgraceful practices. Pennsylvania actually is the number one importer of trash in the United States. My company, Clean Water Action, does a lot of work, especially in the Allentown area, dealing with cases of groundwater contamination where communities can no longer drink water from their wells because of landfills. It's a very serious matter. Not only does the disposal poison our air and our water, it also necessitates the use of virgin materials for the next round of consumers' items. And the health of our environment is the 142 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 health of our people. It's totally unacceptable that we don't recycle more. The materials that are put into a trash truck, of course, will not go to a landfill, will not be incinerated, will be put to good use. And so we've heard that collecting more, recycling costs more. Patrick Fitzgerald explained clearly that if we recycle considerably more, many fold more, it will cost more time. I urge Councilman DiCicco and everyone else to understand that we will save a lot of money in collecting trash. The bottom line is that the same amount of material will go to the curb. And so the first step toward responsible waste management is to keep it out of landfills. This, of course, was the principle behind 1251-A that was set 20 years ago, and, sadly, all of us citizens are here expending our energy to push the City to adhere to its own law, and also to remind everyone that the demands that we're pushing for are not 143 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 radical. They're mere baby steps towards environmental stewardship. Advanced notions like manufacturer responsibility, zero waste initiatives, bottle bills, pay as you throw, things that we heard from Neil Seldman, frankly, are not possible until we first learn to recycle properly. This is the first step. We need to crawl before we can walk or run. And so the current climate is that people are demanding recycling and that's a fact. We have 10,000 Philadelphians who have signed the Recycle Now Philadelphia petition, and so -- (Applause.)
Thank you. I believe I submitted a summary by zip code of the number of petitions that have been signed. And so 10,000 Philadelphians have been educated about these issues and have signed a petition. Specifically, Councilman DiCicco, 2,500 of your constituents have signed. 144 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Councilwoman Blackwell, 2,300 of your constituents have signed. Councilwoman Miller, my district, that's 1,500. Councilwoman Campbell, 1,400 have signed. And Councilman Clarke, 1,100 have signed. And so the circumstances are ripe for change. And it's not about whether to do this or not; it's about how. It's law, it's good sense, and people want it. And so thank you so much for your time. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Emily Linn, Clean Air Council.
Good afternoon. My name is Emily Linn and I'm a Program Director at Clean Air Council. I'm going to shorten my testimony today because I want to give the opportunity to the next panel with our representatives from the Recycle Now chapters to speak. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. 145 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215
Clean Air Council played a key role in getting the initial City mandatory recycling law passed in 1987. We co-founded the Recycling Alliance of Philadelphia in 1998, hold an appointed seat on the City's Recycling Advisory Committee and currently serve on the steering committee for the Recycle Now Philly campaign. What we want is very simple. And when I say "we," I speak not only for Clean Air Council and for our members that reside within the City of Philadelphia, but I also speak for the 10,000 residents and climbing that have signed the Recycling Now petition. In terms of recycling service, we would like to see three things: weekly curbside recycling collection, the collection of plastics and cardboard at the curb, and implementation of single-stream technology that would allow residents to recycle all materials in one bin. Perhaps most importantly, though, 146 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 we would like to see these three services provided citywide, with no neighborhood left behind. The current recycling program is more than a little bit baffling. It's confusing that some neighborhoods have weekly collection and others have biweekly collection. It's not fair that some residents are paid to recycle their plastics and cardboard while others are forced to store their materials for an entire month until the partnership drop-off day. All neighborhoods deserve a quality recycling program, like all neighborhoods deserve any basic City service. The City is currently in the midst of a hundred-million-dollar-plus ad campaign that is neither focused on getting residents the information they really need nor tailored on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis. Make the three improvements I just mentioned, make them citywide and all the sudden, 147 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 you'll find that educating residents is much easier. Most residents are just confused as to when or what they can recycle at the curb. In terms of recommendations, we ask two things of this Committee today. First, we ask the Committee to insist on a comprehensive plan from the Streets Department which includes specific measures and a committed time frame for achieving the 35 to 40 percent recycling rate mandated by the 1987 ordinance. We recommend that this plan include all three service improvements I just mentioned implemented on a citywide basis. Second, we ask this Committee to set up a mechanism to regularly follow up with the Streets Department to assess their progress in meeting these recycling goals. We will never be able to improve the City's recycling rate without a comprehensive plan. Right now even the 148 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 City's own Recycling Advisory Committee isn't privy to the Streets Department's short- and long-term plans, if they even exist, which now we know they do. So we're hopefully on the right track. In conclusion, we have a tremendous opportunity right now to improve recycling for Philadelphia residents. Let's focus on making the necessary improvements to our recycling services that encourage rather than discourage participation in the program. Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Ms. Knapp.
Good afternoon. Thanks for holding this hearing, first off, and I'm going to keep my comments brief as well since we do want to hear from the chapters that are here today. I am Christine Knapp. I'm the Eastern Pennsylvania Outreach Coordinator for Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, 149 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 also known as PennFuture. I'm a Board member of the Recycling Alliance of Philadelphia and on the Mayor's Recycling Advisory Committee. PennFuture works to create a just future where nature of the economy and communities thrive. PennFuture aims to dispel the myth that the environment and the economy are opposing interests and work to demonstrate that a cleaner environment and a healthy economy are intrinsically linked. For the last year and a half PennFuture has staffed the Next Great City initiative. The Next Great City is dedicated to creating a positive future for Philadelphia by advocating for common-sense and cost-effective policies that enhance environmental quality, strengthen our neighborhoods and increase our economic competitiveness. The Next Great City Coalition is made up of 76 diverse organizations representing labor, faith, health, environmental, senior and 150 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 other interests. Every organization in the coalition has endorsed the ten recommendations put forward to make Philadelphia the next great city. Each recommendation meets five criteria. They are all under the direct control of the City. Each can be completed in one mayor's term. Each is highly relevant to Philadelphia's residents and businesses based on polling done by Terry Madonna, Opinion Research, and each has been successfully applied in a pure city. Lastly, each recommendation is either cost neutral or we've identified a way to pay for it. One of the recommendations put forward by Next Great City is to improve Philadelphia's ranking as the second worst large city in the country in recycling diversion. Our coalition partners support that recommendation because they understand that recycling reduces litter on the streets, reduces air and water pollution created by 151 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 burying or burning our trash, saves energy used to produce new materials, and, finally, that it saves the City money. This is one of the few recommendations that not only won't cost us anything but will actually save millions of dollars a year. Last May, the City Controller's office released an audit of the City's recycling program, which showed $17 million in potential savings that could be reached, as the representative from the Controller's office showed earlier. So $17 million is literally how much we're throwing in the trash every year that goes by. This is money that could be better spent keeping libraries open or putting more police on the streets. At a time when crime and education problems need more resources to be adequately addressed, recycling offers an easy way for the City to save money while also being environmentally sound. 152 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 I understand that there may be up-front costs associated with creating a more effective recycling program. We heard testimony earlier that we need $4.5 million for trucks. We may need some other money up front for staff time, but when you're looking at $17 million that could be saved every year, I think any up-front costs is worth the time. The time is now long overdue for the City to invest in a more stronger and efficient recycling program. If the City didn't already have enough reasons to expand recycling, it now has 16 million additional reasons to do so. 17 Thank you. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Councilwoman Brown.
Yes. I simply want to say a huge thank you for your advocacy on the issue, for your clarity in pointing out to us policymakers what opportunities exist and 153 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 to thank you very, very much also for working with my office in making today real. Thank you very much.
Thank you. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you all for your testimony. Evan, did you want to leave those with someone?
Yes. I just wanted to also offer written testimony, which I'll give you for the record. One from Cynthia Bass, who couldn't be here. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I think we already have that.
Okay. And the other is from Damon Roberts. So I can 154 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 provide both of those.
If I could also say at least two other residents have approached me wondering if they'd have a chance to speak briefly, and I just wanted to communicate that to the Committee. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: When we're through with the list, I'll ask if there's anyone else and then they can come -- Mr. A.J. Thompson, you submitted your testimony. Did you want to speak now that you're here?
I'll wait for the other panel. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Okay. Thank you. I mentioned that you were not able to be here, but you showed up. Thank you. The next panel, Eve Segal, Nancy Biller, Marlene Scheifer and Ben Ditzler. And there are three more. I'll hold off because there's not going to be enough room at the witness table. 155 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Ms. Segal.
Yes. Thank you very much for having me here. I have a doctorate from the University of Minnesota in psychology with a specialization in behavior analysis, sometimes called behavior modification, and you could also say that what I am and why I'm speaking here is as an expert in reward and punishment. When we speak about enforcement, we're talking about punishing non-compliance with recycling. So then we have to ask, how effective is punishment? Well, if it's used very immediately and very powerfully, it can be very effective in discouraging behavior, in this case discouraging non-compliance with recycling. What I mean by "immediate" and "powerful" is on the very day when somebody doesn't recycle on recycling pick-up day, they should be hit with a thousand dollar fine. Now, that's 156 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 obviously laughable. They're not going to be hit with a thousand dollar fine. If they're going to be hit with anything lesser, something that doesn't really, really hurt, then it probably is not going to have much effect at all. If it has any effect, it's going to diminish very rapidly over time. But what it will do is create resentment and resistance. So people who study and do research on the effects of reward and punishment do not advise the use of punishment. What we do advise is the use of reinforcement, positive reinforcement, also called reward. The RecycleBank program seems to me a brilliant innovation, just because it makes effective immediate use of reward for recycling. It rewards the behavior commensurate with the amount of recycling that's done. It's rewarding compliance, but it's not only rewarding compliance, it's regarding it in proportion to the amount that people 157 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 choose to recycle. Nothing could be more effective. That's the way to get things done. And that's all I have to say. Thank you very much. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you for your testimony. Nancy.
Thank you. My name is Nancy Biller. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Nancy, would you speak more directly into the mike. Thank you.
I've lived in Philadelphia for years and enjoyed it. 18 Bella Vista, I'm in your district. 19 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: I'm sure 20 you're in here somewhere, right?
And I'm here today -- well, earlier today I think we must have had 40 or 50 people from our chapter, Center City and South Philly, 20 neighborhoods represented. Since the end 158 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 of January we've accumulated 200 enthusiastic members, who immediate -- when people hear about this issue, they can't believe we don't have the kind of program that's been discussed today. They immediately say, Yes, we want it and how do we ask the City to give it to us. So every member of our chapter 10 wants to see incentive-based, weekly, curbside, single-stream recycling, not just in our neighborhood but for every neighborhood in the City. (Applause.)
We'd like to end the confusion so that we can be one city and all be in this together and understand our program and all participate as responsible citizens. The reasons are evident from everything that's been said today. We know it's the right thing to do for the environment. We're tired of storing one month's worth of corrugated carton and plastic in our homes, valuable space we 159 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 could use for something else, and tired of wasting gas going to neighborhood sites in Philadelphia, and I know many people who go to the suburbs to bring their recyclables. And, finally, we, of course -- anybody can understand, Gee, does it make sense to throw out to million 10 dollars a year that we could be saving. 11 We'd love the City to help us understand 12 why we're years behind other major cities 13 and why our elected representatives have 14 lacked the will to demand such a 15 financially and environmentally sound 16 program. 17 Thank you. 18 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, 19 Nancy. Thank you, Ms. Biller. Thank 20 you. 21 (Applause.) 22 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: 23 Ms. Scheifer. 24
Good afternoon, 25 ladies and gentlemen. My name is Marlene 160 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Schleifer and I reside in Roxborough. I am a Vice-President of the Ridge Park Civic Association and I'm the Civic's recycling Chair. I am also a member of Recycle Now Philadelphia's northwest chapter. I am by trade an estate and trust paralegal and, therefore, I work a lot with numbers, and the numbers don't lie. The 5.97 percent citywide recycling rate is among the nation's worth. From what I've read, the implementation of the single-stream recycling in Northeast Philadelphia has brought that area's overall recycling rate up from eight percent to ten percent, which to me is no 17 big deal. The incentive-based pilot program implemented in Chestnut Hill caused the recycling rate to go up there from percent, which was high to begin 21 with, to better than 80 percent, and to 22 me, that is a big deal. 23 (Applause.) 24
When I first 25 heard about the RecycleBank program a 161 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 year and a half ago, I was not really thrilled about it. Why should people be compensated for something they're required by law to do? But the truth is that there is no real enforcement and the proof is in the numbers. RecycleBank works. (Applause.)
Roxborough participates in the Streets Department's Partnership Recycling Program, and Ridge Park Civic Members do a tremendous amount of work and receive relatively little compensation for it. In fact, due to bureaucratic red tape, we haven't seen anything for at least a year. But we go on. We will gladly fold our program in favor of a program like RecycleBank, and I, for one, will gladly donate any vouchers I receive to the Civic for use in connection with our fundraising efforts. (Applause.)
Last May I sat 162 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 here during the budget hearings and I heard organization after organization, dance companies, the Art Museum, recreation programs, come up to this table and ask the City for subsidies. If RecycleBank was implemented citywide, the City would save roughly million a 9 year, with which all of those programs 10 could be funded. The amount the City 11 spends annually on landfill fees is 12 staggering and outrageous, and I urge our 13 elected City officials to do something 14 about it, because change starts at the 15 top. 16 The scattershot nature of our 17 present recycling program is truly 18 unsatisfactory. It's time for this city 19 to make recycling a priority, to 20 implement a comprehensive, citywide, weekly, single-stream, curbside, incentive-based recycling program without further adieu. Thank you. (Applause.) 163 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. And I apologize for mispronouncing your name.
Yes. My name is Ben Ditzler. I'm from the Mantua section 10 in West Philadelphia, and I just missed Ms. Blackwell. I was going to thank her for all of her help bringing single stream to West Philadelphia. I have no written remarks, but I'm here to represent the young people of Philadelphia. I moved to Philadelphia. I'm not actually from here, but I moved here because I wanted to come to a city like Philadelphia. But I now own a house. I've been here for several years. I'm even a committeeman. And when I talk to people my age about like what they're looking for in a city, they'll tell you about getting jobs, public safety, but one of the biggest complaints is, why 164 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 does the recycling stink? I mean, the number of times I've heard that is ridiculous. It's so many times. The number of people who take -- I mean, Nancy talked about this. People take their recyclables home to the suburbs. People take their recyclables home hundreds of miles so they can recycle it.
Something is wrong obviously, yes. So when we're talking in Philadelphia about our brain drain and trying to keep young people in the city, recycling might not seem like an obvious place to start, but it absolutely is. So I know there's a whole bunch of people from Penn here, a bunch of young people. (Applause.)
So if we want to keep these young people in Philadelphia, 165 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 young educated people, this is somewhere we need to start. Thank you. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Also, I want to point out that we've been joined by Councilman James Kenney. He's here as well. Any questions for these witnesses?
I'm on my list. I hope I'm on yours. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Well, I'm just going to call Brian Rudnick, Andrew Thompson and Meenal Raval.
Thank you. My name is Brian Rudnick. I want to thank Chairman DiCicco, Councilman Kenney, 166 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Councilwoman Reynolds Brown and all the Councilmembers who may be listening in their chambers or who try to listen in their chambers and maybe by this time of the day are just too tired to listen anymore. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: No. We get tired, but we do listen.
I admire your endurance. I also wanted to thank everyone who is in attendance today. I consider many of them my friends, and I expect many more will be because they're recycling activists, and if they're recycling activists, you can be sure they're not just activists on recycling, they're activists for this city and for the betterment of this city. And I'm honored to be on this panel with such a gentleman as Ben Ditzler, whose demographic we really need to recruit and encourage if we're to remain a vital city. And if I do any more 167 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 extemporaneous remarks, I will not have time for my prepared remarks. But I do have to add one more extemporaneous remark. I have to propose a reward for the best artwork for Recycling Now. (Applause.)
CAPA High School design. And I can't pronounce the mother's artist's name.
Mika Zecora. I began recycling in the 1980s on Lombard Street in Center City West with a group started by Terry Gillen and haven't stopped. For the last ten years, I have been an active recycler and volunteer in Chestnut Hill at SEPTA's Wyndmoor train station. I also participate in the Environment Committee of the Weavers Way Cooperative Association, which oversees a popular 168 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 recycling program in Mt. Airy. In a few weeks' time, I will have the privilege of sitting on a small subcommittee to decide which of many worthwhile community organizations should be the recipients of the modest amount of grant money earned from our recycled materials. These organizations will implement projects to make our neighborhoods greener and healthier. I have listened and I have asked questions at presentations by RecycleBank and, yes, if you haven't already guessed, I am an avid supporter of the Recycling Alliance and the Recycle Now campaign. In February of last year, I wrote to Streets Commissioner Tolson and copied the letter to the members of the Streets Committee. I advocated for weekly, curbside, single-stream recycling and expressed some reservations about the RecycleBank model. In another letter this past week, I expressed the same concerns, and today I wish to elaborate a 169 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 little on what I expressed. In my family, we try to buy food items in bulk to cut down on the packaging. We gratefully accept hand-me-down clothes. We frequent yard sales and thrift shops. We put kitchen and yard waste in our big Streets Department-supplied compost bin. When single-stream recycling comes to the east side of Germantown Avenue, we will be putting out a good bit less recycling material than many of our neighbors in Chestnut Hill and, consequently, we'll be entitled to less rewards. We also put out a lot less trash than many others, but our taxes pay for the City to remove all of those reusable items that others put in the trash, everything from clothes to toys to books to antique telephones -- which Killian's now has and I'm waiting for an estimate on repair of it -- to sofas and to desks. What incentive is there now for anyone to make the trip to say, the Whosoever Gospel Mission thrift 170 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 store or the Greene Street Friends thrift stores or to post their unwanted items online at Philly Freecycle? And while we have another blogger as a member of Council, I want to put up a web address here. com. Recycling is -- I'm sorry. I lost a little track. So there is no incentive, as I see it, people not to put useful things in the trash. Perhaps there would be incentive if the City offset recycling rewards by the amount that people put in the trash system. And this kind of echoes what a fellow panel member just said about penalties and rewards. I'm not suggesting a penalty. I'm just suggesting an offset to the rewards by perhaps weighing the amount of trash that a household produces or if they go over a certain limit, over a set number of bins. Recycling is and always has been secondary to reducing and reusing when it comes to improving our 171 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 environment, which, as you know, is under local and global threat. And the tears in my eyes after my visit last year to Blue Mountain Recycling caused by the particulate matter in the air there should be reason for all of us to look into the downsides of not reducing and reusing and the consequences for our sanitation and recycling workers. And after my testimony, I'll hand up copies of my testimony, as well as the photos I have from my tour at Blue Mountain. I bring with me today a campaign poster which I employed in my successful bid to be President of the John Hampton Moore Elementary School in the Northeast some 40 years ago. My family helped me reuse this poster after my brother's unsuccessful bid to be President of Central High School. And you see what they did.
We put my name over his. As a final note and with the 172 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 indulgence -- so what I'm saying is reducing and reusing are superior to recycling, and I would like to see an emphasis on reducing and reusing. And as a final note and with the indulgence of Council Donna Reed Miller, if she may be listening, I would like to add that I am considering reusing this poster in a campaign for a seat in this Council alongside you. Thank you for your time, your patience and your hard work. ) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Councilman Kenney.
No. 18 Members of the Committee first. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Your light wasn't on. That's okay. Councilwoman.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Councilman Kenney. To the next generation of leadership, that guy right there in the 173 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 middle.
Let me thank you first for your enthusiasm. It is contagious. And we agree with you that tomorrow's leadership, tomorrow's citizens will have to be at a different place than where we're trying to move to. So with that said, what one, two or three recommendations might you offer as to how we can better connect with your generation and the one coming after you?
Well, I would first -- I mean, in terms of recycling or in general environmental sustainability?
Well, I think the first thing is that our particular West Philadelphia Recycle Now chapter is more in response to the pretty poor city services. So if you don't piss us off so 174 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 much, it might help. The other thing you can do is actually engage young people. I mean, people -- kids are the future, et cetera, et cetera. I know, Councilwoman, you strongly believe in kids and helping kids.
I thank you. I'm pleased to see it's getting through.
So I think you need to keep saying that and also at the same time engage young people, reach out to young people. And I know Councilman Kenney reaches out to YPP all the time, and that's a fantastic way to do it. So thank you for doing that as well.
Okay. That helps. Thank you very much. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Councilman Kenney.
Thank you very much. I just wanted to make sure that 175 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 people in the room knew that today we unanimously passed a resolution creating a standing committee in City Council on the environment. My goal -- (Applause.)
Every operating department in the City of Philadelphia, not just the Streets Department as it relates to recycling, but every operating department in the City has some impact on the environment in some way, whether it's the Health Department, whether it's the Streets Department, whether it's Fleet Management. Whatever the department is, it has some impact on the environment and generally a negative impact. What I'd like to see the committee do is begin to study each of the departments and how they affect the environment and what can be done in an innovative way to either stop hurting the environment or to do things that actually help the environment, with the ultimate 176 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 goal of having the next administration a cabinet-level post like they do in Chicago with the Office of the Environment. (Applause.)
And as I'm sitting here listening to this today, one of the things I think needs to be changed in addition to this type of recycling that you're promoting is a change in attitude that somehow this environmentally friendly stuff is a pain in the neck, that we only do it because you guys are involved in it and because you're activists about it. But what it is is that we need to change the culture of the City government that not only does it save money and it's the right thing to do for the environment, but it could ultimately create employment. There's lots of jobs and other types of things that can be created -- (Applause.)
-- as a 177 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 result of taking this stuff seriously and not just giving you lip service and you have a hearing and you go away and it doesn't get done, but to really look at what the City does or how the City affects not only our own citizens' environment but the whole country and the world's environment.
Cities are great things, but they do create a bit of a mess and they do create an air mess. They do create a solid waste disposal mess. They do create water messes, things that we need to pay attention to. So I'm hoping to be able to generate enough interest in this mayoral campaign that someone or all of them will commit to having that type of office established and will continue to use the Council committee as a vehicle to examine what I think are sometimes innovative and exciting changes in things. 178 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 I mean, we were talking recently about the rubber sidewalk stuff. I mean, that's all recycled tires. I mean, it doesn't mean that those sidewalks go in every neighborhood of the city, but just where we can use them and those kinds of things. So I'm looking forward to working with all of you, and hopefully we can get a Mayor in the next time that will do the recycling and also pay attention to this stuff. So thank you. (Applause.)
If I could say one thing. Just ask for our help. We will help. We will help you.
Will do. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Mr. Thompson, Meenal Raval.
I'll try not to make a habit of this, Councilman DiCicco, but two days in a row. Good to see you again. 179 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: You're putting a lot of hours in this place.
Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, nice to see you again. I was woken up this morning by 1060 and our voices were on it. First time I ever woke myself up this morning. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: That was organized to get yourselves on the radio. That was pretty good.
First time. First time ever. But I'm here as a member of Fishtown Neighborhood Association. A couple years ago we partnered with Bob Pierson, who I'm not sure is here anymore, to institute a first Saturday recycling in Fishtown. When we started that, people said, Recycling in Fishtown? And I said, Sure. Now we have 75-year-old ladies who walk their plastic down to me first Saturday of every month. So for the people in the room -- well, 180 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 nobody in this room thinks so, but I'm sure people in the City think that recycling can't be expanded citywide. It certainly can, because there are a lot more people out there who want to recycle that can't or don't know how to, and I think right now the situation that the City is in, there's sort of a culture of ignorance in that we just assume that vast swaths of the City don't want to recycle or aren't environmentally friendly or they're just too old-fashioned. Well, I've proven that wrong myself, with the help of our kids in our neighborhood and the people who help me every Saturday. Every neighborhood in the City deserves the opportunity to recycle and, if given that opportunity, will recycle and our percentages will go up. The other thing that I wanted to point out today was through our partnership with our schools in our neighborhood, we have a lot of kids who 181 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 help us out, but unfortunately, I believe -- and I think this will be borne out citywide -- the dirtiest, the most litter-filled areas in our City surround schools and are on the paths home from schools. And I think that's because in each school you ain't going to find a recycling bucket. You're not going to find a recycling receptacle outside of schools. When we teach those kids not to recycle by not allowing them the opportunity to, we promote a culture of waste, which I think pervades this City and vast portions of it, and until we address that issue, like my man from Sesame Street -- and believe me, I have a two-year-old and I'm a daily Sesame Street watcher. It is important to get these kids very young and instill in them the values of recycling, and until we do that, we're still going to have a lot of litter on our streets, but, more importantly, I think a better way to turn 182 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 this culture of waste around is to get into these schools and not just teach them not to litter, but teach them to recycle, because when they value the earth and they value the opportunity to create less waste, you'll see a lot less litter on our streets. That's all I have to say. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you, A.J. As someone who has lived his entire life within a block of a school, I can appreciate what you're going through. Good afternoon, ma'am.
Hi. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Please identify yourself for the record.
I am Meenal Raval, Co-Founder of the Mt. Airy Greening Net, as well as Philly Freecycle. I've also been on the steering committee of the Recycle Now Philly campaign. Recently, several of the Mt. Airy Greening Net members reported 183 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 confusion over recycling inserts distributed with their utility bills. These inserts only referenced the blue and the green alternate weeks for recycling, with no mention of weekly recycling, a service that's been in existence in Mt. Airy for years. Numerous residents became confused and began withholding their recyclables for fear of getting them taken with the trash. I have had enough of being told that it's us citizens that can't be bothered to recycle. I believe this is utter sloppiness on the part of our Streets Department and it is outrageous. Are they purposely playing a how-low-can-we-go game with our recycling rates or is it sheer incompetence? This mistake with the inserts needs to be corrected. Just following up with automated phone calls is not good enough. Who is responsible? How did this happen? Why is it so hard to get 184 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 this right? Residents need to be sent corrected inserts and an apology. And, of course, we want one recycling program for our whole city, a weekly, incentive-based service that includes cardboard and plastics, a service we can all embrace. Thank you. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Any questions? (No response.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Thank you both. The last panel, Michael Simons, Damon Roberts and Cindy Bass. Are they still here?
Ms. Bass and Mr. Roberts both had to leave. I put -- COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: We have their written testimony. Okay. I just wanted to check. Thank you. Mr. Simons.
Hi. I'm Michael 185 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Simons. I do a lot related to sustainability in the environment in the City. I'm not particularly going to speak about recycling. So many people have. I wanted to address a related issue. That's reuse, because a few people mentioned it earlier. Neil Seldman mentioned Second Chance in Baltimore and Evan Belser mentioned zero waste and Meenal mentioned Philly Freecycle. I just wanted to enlighten the Council and the people in the audience about the concept of reuse and zero waste. I don't really have any written statements, but basically what it is is that you have traditional recycling, and that's the metal, the paper, and we're all familiar with that, and then there's the other things that we can divert from the waste stream. I manage both a non-profit called the Please Take Materials Exchange that diverts materials to artists and teachers and anybody who 186 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 can use it, small business, large business, individuals amongst the whole community of Philadelphia. We have Philly Freecycle, which has over 9,200 members, and each month we divert tons 7 from the waste stream. And the Please 8 Take for a number of years has worked 9 with various people in the City to try 10 and acquire space. Finally, when things 11 didn't work out through that or through 12 private owners or we had to strike out 13 and find something on our own, I have 14 recently acquired a large industrial 15 warehouse of 100,000 square feet that I 16 am working to turn into a sustainability, reuse and recycling center. And I just wanted to let you know so that when you follow up and look into things like Second Chance, that you know that there's a lot of things going on in Philadelphia involved in things like construction and demolition waste. There's a number of different organizations that deal with reuse of building materials. There's 187 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 things like the Delaware Valley Green Building Council, and there's places like Restore and the Building Materials Exchange from Impact Services, and then there's the factory which is trying to set up the center for the Please Take and other efforts and other ways to divert reuse, materials that could be reused. I have pamphlets for both the Please Take Materials Exchange and Philly Freecycle, and if the Council wanted to look at it, I do have the Please Take press book. Thank you very much. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. Mr. Simons, you might want the excess, whatever we don't distribute. You probably want those back. Anybody else here who wishes to testify?
Mr. Chairman. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: 188 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Mr. Simons.
Sir, you piqued my interest on a number of opportunities. I mean, what you've said, you provided concrete evidence and tangible examples of where all of us are philosophically. So, I mean, it's just encouraging to know that much of what we talk about is doable. Now, the book that you have there is what again?
The Please Take Materials Exchange. It's a non-profit organization that was formed in 1996 and its aim is to divert unwanted materials from different organizations and individuals, industrial manufacturing, unsold product from stores, things from individuals, small business, large business. We've taken things from -- we've gotten stuff from the Art Museum 189 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 and from the Franklin Institute and from just all sorts of organizations. One thing, we were in I. Goldberg the night before they knocked it down, and the amount of things that could have been reused there is immense. We had a warehouse space at 13th and Callowhill for several years between 1999 -- 1998 and 2000, and when the City decided, well, we might put the stadiums there, the landlord raised our rent out of reach, because they were going to have to say, We're losing this much money, and we were outgrowing the space anyway. So we've strived for a number of years, talking to a number of people and looking for space, and the goal is basically to create a center where you can come and exchange things and also that we can inspire and educate people on how they can reuse things in ways that they might not think about. So you do things like you look at Isaiah Zagar's murals around town. You look at -- 190 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 there's a number of artists and individuals that reuse things in really creative ways, and we try and educate and inspire along those things and also about recycling and other things. As you might see on my brochure, I've gone so far as to get the telephone number 215-RECYCLE and I get calls every day about recycling and reuse. In fact, I get calls from within the City thinking I'm the City's recycling program. But the key is just that there's so much, even in traditional recycling where you can improve the programs. Like Blue Mountain probably could work with you guys. I went to a presentation of theirs in New York where they're even collecting things like if a chair is mostly metal, they'll collect that as part of recycling collection. There's a huge market in plastic film, like plastic bags and things, and the non-traditional plastics, the ones that 191 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 are other than one and two. There's a market in that and traditional recycling. And then things that maybe you can't send towards traditional recycling, like a 300,000 board feed of wood that they're taking out -- that they could take out of the NTI-demolished buildings that they're probably landfilling. These things could go to a reuse center and then somebody could use them to build. And these are old growth forests and sizes of wood that you just can't get anymore. And so we're working towards building that in Philadelphia.
Okay. Thank you very much. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Anyone else who wishes to testify? As I said earlier -- yes, sir.
Good afternoon. Members of City Council, Councilman DiCicco, thank you for holding these 192 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 hearings. I'll keep my remarks brief. My name is Kevin Scott. I'm a ward committeeman and, more importantly, a Philadelphia taxpayer and voter. I listened earlier to the presentation by the Streets Department and what I heard was a lot of excuses. I heard reasons why they can't get our recycling rates up to a level comparable to other cities. I'm not impressed. If they can't do the job, maybe we should get someone who can. (Applause.)
I actually heard Commissioner Tolson say that her goal was to eventually, three years in the future, get our recycling rate up to 16 percent. That's pathetic. The baby steps that the Streets Department has proposed are no-brainers that could have and should have been done long ago. We've had our law on the books for 20 years. Where has the Streets Department been all this time? 193 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 Our present recycling program is an embarrassment. If I were to try to design a recycling program that would discourage participation, minimize recycling and maximize waste, it would look a lot like what we have now. The fact that it doesn't even get picked up every week tells me that the Streets Department isn't serious about providing decent service to the citizens of Philadelphia and they certainly aren't serious about complying with our laws, which raises the question, why hasn't anyone forced the Streets Department to comply with the law? Other cities are doing this. Why can't we? Los Angeles is recycling 50 percent of its trash. Anyway, you get the idea. I mean, we need real change here. We don't need just little baby steps. This is long overdue, and we need to have our recycling program completely revamped, completely rebuilt from the ground up and have it be something that we don't have 194 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 to be ashamed of as citizens of Philadelphia. We want to be a first-class city, right? And I think it's time that we as a city did the right thing. We know that it would create jobs. These are companies. Blue Mountain Recycling is a Philadelphia-based company. This would create hundreds of jobs if we got our recycling rates up to where they should be. And we're throwing -- it offends me as a taxpayer that my tax dollars are being thrown in the trash. We're wasting tens of millions of dollars each year. So as our elected representatives, members of City Council, I ask you to please do everything you can to accelerate this process. Really what the Streets Department has proposed up to this point is not good enough. I think you all have gotten that message loud and clear today, and I ask you to please, in your capacity as members of City Council, to please do what you can to get change 195 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 so we can finally in Philadelphia have the trash taken out properly. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Thank you.
Thank you very much. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: We will do that. (Applause.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Any other witnesses? (No response.) COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: As I said earlier during the day, we will recess this to the call of the Chair just for the purpose of keeping this discussion going between now and our recess in June so that we don't miss another couple months of -- and we'll see what the progress is, if there's any progress as a result of some of the recommendations that have been made today. Thank you all for attending. Thank you. (Applause.) 196 2/22/07 - STREETS - RES. 060215 (Committee on Streets and Services adjourned at 4:00 p.m.) - - - 197 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on February 22, 2007, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)