Philadelphia has set a goal to become a Zero Waste city by 2035. Throughout 2017, PlanPhilly will report on ways the city is working toward that goal by looking at the potential found in the waste stream - from compost to cogeneration, recycling to gleaning.
The Zero Waste and Litter Cabinet recently created by mayor Jim Kenney has until just July 1st to prepare a comprehensive plan to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills and incinerators 90 percent by 2035.
Cabinet members and waste management stakeholders are excited and optimistic. After working with the city on waste management and recycling since 1985, Maurice M. Sampson II said he was surprised to hear the cabinet’s zero waste plan.
“I’m still not sure [if] I was dreaming,” Sampson said after the cabinet’s first meeting on January 19th.
Currently, the City of Philadelphia diverts approximately 21 percent of the 623,474 tons of waste it collects a year, said Scott McGrath, director of environmental services at Philadelphia’s Streets Department. If you include private collection, the diversion rate goes up to 38 percent.
Getting to 90 percent in less than 20 years is not going to be easy, local experts interviewed for this story said, and it will require multiple strategies and behavioral changes. But all agreed that diverting more organic matter—recycling and composting grass, leaves, and food waste—will be key.
“Setting a zero waste goal without having organic diversion is inconceivable,” said Nic Esposito, Zero Waste and Litter Director at the Managing Director’s office. “So, at least by 2035, we’ll have organics collection in the city of Philadelphia, if we stick to our plan.”
The most recent waste composition study of city-collected waste stream, conducted in 2010, estimated that 12 percent of our garbage are leafs and yard waste, and 13 percent are food and other organics.
“Organics is a very hot item on our agenda [for] studying how to get to zero waste,” Streets Department Commissioner Carlton Williams told PlanPhilly.
By summer, the department will release a study evaluating the feasibility of collecting residential organics in addition to trash and recycling. The study will look at the resources already available, Williams said, and recommend actions needed to collect and accept organic material.
Philadelphia used to have an unusual organic curbside collection from the 1930s until sometime during the 1990s. Pig farmers from New Jersey would come to the city twice a week and collect buckets full of food scraps to feed their pigs. In 1991, they collected 30,000 tons and saved the City $1.9 millions in landfill fees. The program was discontinued, McGrath said because the cost per ton for pick-up became too expensive. Some years later, most of the farms closed due to development pressures in South Jersey.
Today, municipal organic collection is not possible mainly because there are no composting facilities in Philadelphia with the capacity to accept tons of food waste. Some organic waste was being sent to a facility in Wilmington, Delaware. But the facility closed in 2014 due to code violations and odor.
According to Streets, an average household in Philadelphia throws away 20 pounds of food waste a month. Every pound diverted from landfill saves the city $40 in tipping, or disposal, fees. Sending food to the landfill is not only expensive, it also releases methane into the atmosphere. And composting advocates say it’s just not very smart: food waste can be recycled, creating jobs and revenue.