As one of the Next Great City Coalitions 10 recommended actions, I firmly believe recycling is the “lowest hanging fruit “and with continued support the first to be realized.

After twenty years of endless meetings and fruitless attempts to convince unwilling bureaucrats on the merits of recycling, it would appear that Philadelphia is on track to get the program we deserve. Thanks to the efforts of the Recycling Alliance and its Recycle NOW Philadelphia Campaign, both candidates, Democrat Michael Nutter and Republican Al Taubenberger, have signed on to a Five Point Agenda for Recycling in Philadelphia. As the other points and details are available online (www.recyclenowphila.org), the first point is most relevant here: the Mayor will be the voice and leader of the program, not a faceless bureaucrat or sacrificial recycling coordinator. Recycling will either be the next Mayor’s success or point of embarrassment in the 2011 electoral season.

And such is as it should be: we have all waited long enough. With so much high talk of “sustainability” recycling is the first brick and cornerstone of any such initiative and the litmus test for the next administration.

What was most notable about the RecycleNOW campaign was its simplicity. Beginning in November 2005, we stopped talking to bureaucrats, and focused our attention on the public, with the message to stop complaining to each other about what we don’t have and demand recycling NOW.

What did it take? A coalition representing the City major environmental and civic organizations, five neighborhood chapters, over 40 presentations, twelve thousand signatures, briefings for City Council members and all mayoral primary candidates, an overflow crowd of 200 at a February 2007 City Council hearing on recycling, and media coverage in one form or another at least every 10 days for 18 months. Working with the even larger Next Great City coalition, we truly made recycling a campaign issue.

As successful as the Campaign has been, it has only begun. The Recycle NOW Campaign will not end till recycling reaches every household, every school, institution and business in Philadelphia. This will first require the continued diligence on the part of the Recycling Alliance and the constituency it has built to hold the next Mayor to his promises. The Alliance must continue to be a constant advocate in order to prevail among the multitude of very real priorities and limited resources our city has.

Furthermore, the Recycle NOW campaign must reach out where the City collection does not: to residences of apartments and condos, office workers, students and their instructors in the city’s schools and colleges. While the law does dictate participation in each of these circumstances (and has been law since 1987), if recycling is to happen they too must get organized and demand of their management ‘recycling with no excuses’ in each situation.

Let’s make it happen.