Successful elsewhere, recycling program spurned by city
By Uri Friedman
Metro Philadelphia, October 11, 2007
Philadelphia-based RecycleBank has convinced leaders from around the region to adopt its program, drawing the Wilmington, Del., mayor and U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Delaware, to a recycling plant in Southwest Philadelphia yesterday to celebrate. Meanwhile, the company is talking with officials in Chicago, Toronto and Phoenix about doing the same thing in those locations. And yet, RecycleBank has failed in its numerous attempts to convince Philadelphia officials to have its successful pilot program spread citywide.
It currently only has two small pilot programs operating in West Oak Lane and Chestnut Hill that have substantially increased residential participation rates, partly by rewarding households that recycle with gift certificates, while sending recyclables for processing at the Blue Mountain recycling facility in the city.
œThe city has resisted any attempt to look at anything that's innovative whenever we have discussed pilots such as RecycleBank, said Maurice Sampson, the former city recycling czar and current chairman of the RecycleNow campaign.
According to Scott McGrath, the Philadelphia Streets Department's acting recycling coordinator, RecycleBank's program could cost the city an additional $18 million a year due to the extra time, trucks and manpower needed to collect recyclables along with RecycleBank's fees of $2 per household a month.
œThat's not feasible in our current budget environment, he said.
According to Scott Lamb, the chief operating officer for RecycleBank, the city has struggled with its financial level of commitment to recycling.
Philadelphia sees the œcost of collecting a significant amount of recyclables as being prohibitive, Lamb said. œThat's been the Streets Department position up to this point. Hopefully, the next administration makes recycling more of a priority; that's really what the city of Wilmington did.
According to a report from the City Controller, the city could get $17 million a year if it increased its recycling rate to 37.5 percent from current single-digit levels.