Plastics recycling goes all the way to seven
By Vance Lehmkuhl
Philadelphia Daily News: Earth to Philly, August 4, 2010
Arist's conception of a cost-effective method for city to spread the news of recycling plastics #1-#7.
There's big news today out of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability - the city's curbside recycling program has at long last expanded its plastic pickup to include all plastics #1 through #7. Previously only #1 and #2 could be put in with your glass and paper for recycling.
This is a great step toward that "Greenest City in America" goal, and one I discussed with Mayor Nutter back in May in this brief audio interview. At that time the Mayor promised that he was working on trying to expand the types of plastics that can be recycled by consumers, and he agreed that we want to make the process as easy and habitual as possible.
To that end, the city could still do better, so I'm hoping this will be followed up quickly by an attention-getting public-education campaign. I only happened across this news on the Office of Sustainability's Facebook page, and still have questions that have gone unanswered all day by that office and/or the Streets Department. None of my fellow editors in the DN newsroom saw any press release about this. (If and when more info comes in from whichever department I will add as an update.)
Sure, with the city cutting firehouse hours because of its cut-to-the-bone budget I understand that there are not unlimited P.R. resources. But Philadelphia needs to take seriously the task of getting the word out on this and getting average Philadelphians to grasp how easy recycling can be.
Personaly, I still like that YouTube contest idea, or, say, a Flash game showing different branded packages, and the user has to click Yes or No within a short time, could be a fun way to get the sorting set in our minds. But there should certainly be multiple prongs to the strategy to reach different demographics of Philly residents. Facebook is one prong, obviously, and, well, Earth to Philly is another. Maybe the trash trucks that have been converted and repainted could blare the message to everybody in the neighborhood?
Feel free to add your own suggestions on how to get the message out - it may, after all, be up to us to establish this whole strategy - and don't forget to put your #1 - #7 plastics out!
UPDATE: A few minutes after posting, I heard from Alex Dews and Sarah Wu from the Office of Sustainability, who confirmed that though there had been no press release yet touting this change, "there is going to be a press event later in the month." They referred me over to Streets for more detailed info, and I will share what I learn there once I learn it.
There's big news today out of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability - the city's curbside recycling program has at long last expanded its plastic pickup to include all plastics #1 through #7. Previously only #1 and #2 could be put in with your glass and paper for recycling.
This is a great step toward that "Greenest City in America" goal, and one I discussed with Mayor Nutter back in May in this brief audio interview. At that time the Mayor promised that he was working on trying to expand the types of plastics that can be recycled by consumers, and he agreed that we want to make the process as easy and habitual as possible.
To that end, the city could still do better, so I'm hoping this will be followed up quickly by an attention-getting public-education campaign. I only happened across this news on the Office of Sustainability's Facebook page, and still have questions that have gone unanswered all day by that office and/or the Streets Department. None of my fellow editors in the DN newsroom saw any press release about this. (If and when more info comes in from whichever department I will add as an update.)
Sure, with the city cutting firehouse hours because of its cut-to-the-bone budget I understand that there are not unlimited P.R. resources. But Philadelphia needs to take seriously the task of getting the word out on this and getting average Philadelphians to grasp how easy recycling can be.
Personaly, I still like that YouTube contest idea, or, say, a Flash game showing different branded packages, and the user has to click Yes or No within a short time, could be a fun way to get the sorting set in our minds. But there should certainly be multiple prongs to the strategy to reach different demographics of Philly residents. Facebook is one prong, obviously, and, well, Earth to Philly is another. Maybe the trash trucks that have been converted and repainted could blare the message to everybody in the neighborhood?
Feel free to add your own suggestions on how to get the message out - it may, after all, be up to us to establish this whole strategy - and don't forget to put your #1 - #7 plastics out!
UPDATE: A few minutes after posting, I heard from Alex Dews and Sarah Wu from the Office of Sustainability, who confirmed that though there had been no press release yet touting this change, "there is going to be a press event later in the month." They referred me over to Streets for more detailed info, and I will share what I learn there once I learn it.