Curbside recycling program underway

Curbside recycling programs in West Philadelphia have gotten off the ground in the last two weeks, and City Hall officials report high participation. The Mayor's Solid Waste Advisory Committee was told at a recent meeting that recycling tonnage in Philadelphia has practically doubled since West Philadelphia was included in the city's recycling efforts, according to Nick Sanders, a member of the committee. "West Philadelphia was the largest number of households of any addition [to the program so far]," said Sanders, who is president of Spruce Hill Recycling Group. The West Philadelphia area was brought into the city-wide curbside recycling program on November 15, making it possible for residents to recycle metal cans, aluminum cans, glass jars and bottles and newspapers outside their homes. Recycling takes place on the work day before each residence's trash day, every other week. Tom Klein, director of education and promotion for the city's recycling office, said that many, if not all, households are participating in the program. "As far as tonnage, we got as much as 20 tons on our busiest day, and as little as six on our slowest day," Klein said of the program's first week. Regardless of the number of households that actually participate, Klein said, the recycling program ends up saving the city money. "It's cost-effective," he said. "It costs $123 to collect a ton [of recycling] as opposed to $143 to collect and dispose of a ton of trash," he said. David Hochman, president of the Spruce Hill Community Association, said it is too early to gauge the program's effectiveness. "Trucks clearly have been in some places, and haven't been in others," Hochman said. "I have a feeling there's a lot of variation in the neighborhood." Hochman, who lives at 40th and Irving streets, said his own block has been "ignored" for two pickups straight. Sanders, however, said he saw wide participation on his block at 45th and Spruce streets, with the blue buckets distributed by the city in front of every house on the program's first week. But he said the trucks came by much earlier than scheduled during the program's second week, catching the people on his block off guard. "I had to run out with my buckets when I saw them there," he said.

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