Monthly FAQ
May 2009
Litter…Where it all begins
As we get into the swing of the cleaning season, it amazes many people how much trash accumulates on the streets. According to Keep America Beautiful, on average each person creates about five pounds of trash daily. Whew, in a city of 1.4 million people that ���s a lot of waste.
A large contributor to the increase in waste is the use of so many disposable products. If you think about the life cycle of products we use on a daily basis, we all can find ways to reduce the amount of trash we create. It often starts with packaging; think of the following items, the morning coffee cup, the sandwich bag we package our children ���s lunch in, the plastic bag we get at a store, the water bottle used when we are out and about. These commonly used items didn ���t exist in such abundance 30 years ago therefore, we have a trash problem. Keep Philadelphia Beautiful (KPB) will begin a campaign this spring geared towards creating a gre ater awareness of waste reduction strategies through the important actions of reducing, reusing and recycling waste.
The focus for our commercial corridors will be plastic bag Reduction. As legislation sweeps the country to ban plastic bags, Philadelphia is pursuing it ���s own ban or tax of plastic bags and a ban on polystyrene. The state government has also weighed in with it ���s own proposed ban of all disposable bags. Keep Philadelphia Beautiful, regardless of the outcomes of these measures will focus on educating businesses and their patrons to reduce their use of disposable plastic bags.
KPB will begin partnerships with Career Wardrobe and the Comprehensive Center for Fathers to highlight the reuse of clothing. These organizations are critical links to success for the populations they serve. Through donations of clothing people are able to confidently enter the workforce. These organizations make Reuse as easy as pulling things out of your closet to fill someone else ���s life.
Finally, throughout the summer, Keep Philadelphia Beautiful will offer event Recycling to communities engaged in the waste reduction campaign through their commercial corridor. Last year the Manny Flick Regattas, Welcome America and the Manyanunk Arts Festival ran successful event recycling pilots with Keep Philadelphia Beautiful. We will partner with event planners for a recycle on the go program at communities festivals.
At each point of a product ���s life cycle there is an opportunity to reduce waste. Whether we purchase products made from recycled content, we replace disposable items with their reusable counterparts or we recycle at every opportunity. By reducing waste the impact on litter is immeasurable because each action ultimately creates a value for waste and in today ���s economy no one is throwing money on the street.