Throughout the history of their city’s development, citizens have faced various problems as a result of improper waste sorting. It’s hard to blame the local officials for everything when even those who complain about them are the ones who litter the city. Read more about the general history of the struggle and difficulties with waste sorting, as well as the positive actions of Philadelphia residents, at philadelphia.name.
How did citizens clean their streets in the past?
Since the beginning of the founding and development of the City of Brotherly Love, there have been various obstacles in the field of waste management. The main gap concerns landfills in the region, but more on that later. Even before modern programs to clean up the city, the residents were cleaning up the city on their own. This story took place in the early twentieth century, when local enthusiasts consolidated the Philadelphians in the settlement for public street sweeping.
“Help us clean up Philadelphia” was the name of the movement at the time. It truly united the entire city, thanks to a common goal. Local entrepreneurs, educational institutions, government agencies, etc. also helped to advertise the event. Witnesses of that period wrote that more than one hundred and sixty-five schoolchildren participated in the cleanup that day instead of attending school. The current movement cannot be compared to the Soviet Saturday. The townspeople obeyed only their own ideology. They wanted to make their homes tidy and free of garbage. Though, of course, they fully realized this after a powerful campaign that covered more than a million residents of Philadelphia. The 1914 community cleanup was a full-fledged event, with a march as part of the aforementioned program. The marchers were mostly blacks and immigrant workers. Overall, the debut event managed to clear Philadelphia of one hundred thousand cubic yards of garbage. A few years later, the event was repeated, and once again people of different professions, status and skin color helped to sweep the streets. This unity of the Philadelphians inspired other residents of their communities to take action. Government organizations recognized the successes of the locals with various awards, such as the Cleanest City in the Country award. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the old traditions were preserved, but the former scale could not be returned. All hope was in the active public – volunteers. In addition, one of the biggest drawbacks of the aforementioned caring movement of Philadelphia residents was that, despite the almost annual public street cleaning, the garbage quickly returned. The chaotic establishment of landfills elsewhere created new problems.
Current situation: waste sorting
In 2017, beyond three hundred reports from citizens concerned complaints about an illegal landfill. The local authorities tried to resolve the issue, but it was not that simple. Recommunity Recycling in Philadelphia processed more than 100 tons of recyclables almost every day. The company operated both an automatic system and a manual system. However, there were still difficulties with sorting and contamination. Poorly sorted loads typically include many plastic bags that clog the sorting equipment during recycling. Contaminated materials are mostly related to food waste. Due to improper sorting of waste by city residents, the work on the conveyor becomes harder and longer. This generates additional waste, some of which may no longer be recyclable. Experts note that the above problem can be eliminated with proper waste sorting. Local authorities are making this process easier in every way possible for Philadelphians to get rid of their waste. At the same time, in the age of the Internet, you can find somewhere to take heavy items for recycling to facilitate someone’s work.
