Solution Zero Waste

Guiding Principles

Our recommendations have been shaped by our underlying philosophy. In order to build a cleaner, greener city, it's important for us to prioritize these principles.

Communication- Events provide a space to inform residents

Trust- Residents need to know that the city is working for them, in every neighborhood of Philadelphia

Fiscal Responsibility- Thinking big is important, and so is ensuring funding is realistic

Recommendations

Through our research into waste management in Philadelphia and the best practices of zero-waste, we have formulated six recommendations to reduce waste in Philadelphia's events. These are all designed to be implementable by 2026.

Reestablish the Litter Cabinet

Bring back the Zero Waste Litter Cabinet to get Philadelphia back on track to be zero waste by 2035

Create Community Jobs

Utilize the events calendar to create jobs for Philadelphians that build a green economy

Create Neighborhood Nodes

Pursue grant funding to create permanent recycling centers in the neighborhoods that need it most

Encourage Event Opt-In

Provide incentives and requirements to convince more events to go zero waste

Outreach Campaign

Inform residents on how they can play their part in reaching zero waste through engagement at events

Maximize Waste Diversion at Events

Take actions to ensure that the new Zero-Waste Events Program goes further than before

Before 2026, we aim to bring back the Zero Waste Litter Cabinet that was disbanded in 2020. We hope to push the city to get back on track for the goal of Zero Waste by 2035. The original Zero Waste Action Plan had four main branches, including one focused on events. While the rest of our recommendations will detail how the Zero Waste Events Program can be expanded further than the original plan, other branches of the Action Plan should be revived as they were originally detailed. On the campaign trail, Mayor-Elect Parker pledged to restore the Litter Cabinet. We recommend she uphold this promise.

Volunteers pick up leftover clothes at the Philadelphia Marathon

The Zero Waste Action Plan proved to be an effective tool at reducing waste in Philadelphia. To make the plan most effective, the city should take several actions to maximize its potential.

Get the entire Philadelphia city government onboard. Without the buy-in of several key departments, such as the Streets department or the Office of Sustainability, the plan will not be able to succeed.
Ensure that the plan receives dedicated funding in the future. Otherwise, the plan is at risk of being eliminated like it was in the past. While city funds are tight, the financial burden of the Zero Waste Action Plan is light.
Prioritize strong data collection. One of the strengths of the original plan was the wealth of data produced, but no data on waste has been collected since 2020. With this information, it will be easy to see how implementation is working. This information should be shared with the public.

We seek to use grant funding to build a permanent recycling or composting center in one of Philadelphia's neighborhoods that has the worst problems with litter. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has several grants that encourage more sustainable waste management, with many cities across the country already receiving funds. This center is intended to be a positive intervention in a neighborhood that needs it most. We will foster community buy-in through outreach and education, emphasizing the lasting legacy of these nodes. The events of 2026 will help leverage grant funding, and make these nodes part of the legacy of the events of 2026.

New Orleans leaders celebrate receiving an EPA grant to improve recycling

Some potential grants we will be looking at applying to-

The Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grant Program- This EPA grant provides $275 million for recycling programs and investments. The funds are intended to support municipalities in their waste management goals. The program has funding through 2026.

The Recycling Education and Outreach Grant- This EPA grant provides $75 million for recycling education. The goal of the program, which runs through 2026, is to increase diversion rates of waste and decrease recycling contamination.

Without these grants from the federal government, these projects would not be possible. As Philadelphia looks to 2026, it should maximize the support it can get from the federal government to make sure that this year leaves a strong legacy. The funding is out there, Philadelphia needs to take advantage of it. For more information on what we hope to build, see our Zero Waste Walk Through page.

We will engage and inform residents on the benefits of reaching zero waste through outreach at Philadelphia events. This will showcase the work being done by the city to reach zero waste while educating residents and visitors on how they can take part in this transformation. Reaching zero-waste requires the buy-in of residents to do their part. At the moment though, residents have no reason to trust that the city is doing its job. By communicating with residents directly at events, the city can advance its zero-waste goals in all sectors. The platform that events provide can reach residents in all parts of the city, in all neighborhoods.

Advocacy groups in Philadelphia work hard for change, they deserve to know the city is on their side.

What does this look like?

Volunteers and staffers at events. Whether it’s manning a booth or assisting the public use a waste bin, having a physical presence at events will help spread the word about what the city is doing and encourage residents to join.
Common branding for programs and infrastructure that is easy to understand. Philadelphians should know who to look for for help with waste at events, or what bin to use when disposing of trash. They should know in advance if an event has opted-in to being zero-waste, so they can prepare accordingly. This starts by building a program brand.
Connecting with community organizations. Philadelphia is currently home to many community groups who are campaigning for a more sustainable city. It's important for the city to connect with these organizations and share the progress that's being made. This can in-turn help inspire further action from residents across the city.
Increased transparency with the public. Data on recycling rates and waste disposal should be easily available to the public.

The city has used volunteers to communicate at events in the past. This can be a strong resource for outreach in neighborhoods across the city.

We seek to create a Zero-Waste Events Jobs Program to do the role previously occupied by the Waste Watchers. These volunteers were critical parts of the Events Program, providing key outreach and education for event-goers. They helped ensure that event-goers left events knowing more about waste diversion than before. The Waste Watcher volunteer program was cost effective, but missed an opportunity to include Philadelphians in the green economy. By providing jobs to young adults, zero-waste events can provide a chance to improve the livelihood of residents that need it the most.

The Zero-Waste Events Program should partner with the Philadelphia Youth Network’s WorkReady Program. This program provides employment opportunities across the city to youth between 12 and 24. By becoming an employment provider, the Events Program can connect with residents across Philadelphia and provide opportunities to young adults that need it most. Events can be a force for good in a variety of ways. It’s important to make sure that going zero-waste contributes to Philadelphia’s economic development. The city already has experience working with WorkReady, as the Parks & Recreation Department is already a Program Provider.

By providing jobs to young Philadelphians, zero-waste events can work for the city

In the previous Zero-Waste Events Program, event organizers had to opt-in to make their events zero-waste. To maximize the potential of the program, we seek to encourage participation. For large events of over 2000 attendees, this means automatic enrollment. For smaller events, we seek to incentivize participation to make going zero-waste easy and economically feasible. Going zero-waste should not make an event harder to plan, but it should be encouraged to be done as much as possible.

Actions to take

Automatically enroll events of over 2000 attendees
Encourage event participation by reducing permitting fees for organizers who opt-in to going zero-waste
Coordinate with the changes proposed by "Celebrate, Locally" to streamline the event planning process
Connect event organizers with zero-waste vendors to make planning sustainable events more accessible for new organizers

Events of all sizes should be able to go zero-waste

Pilot Proposal

2026, as Philadelphia welcomes the world, is the perfect time to see just how successful going zero-waste can be. But for small events, opting-in to the Events Program can add extra costs that organizers cannot pay. We propose that for the year of 2026, the city of Philadelphia launches a pilot project in which they cover the costs of opting-in to the Zero-Waste Events Program for small events of under 2,000 attendees.

By doing this, Philadelphia can ensure that every event hosted in the city will opt-in to the Events Program.

Covering these costs is likely not feasible beyond this one year. But this pilot will test the limits of what the Events Program is capable of achieving. And by measuring the results, the city can track waste diversion in small events and compare to past results. Hopefully in time, incentivizing small events to participate in the program can have similar success as auto-enrolling all events held in the city.

At events, there is an opportunity to reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost. Events are not just places for outreach, they are also sources of a great deal of waste produced in Philadelphia. Critically, events can also produce more waste than a neighborhood is used to dealing with at a time. To make events a good thing for the communities they occur in, cutting down on waste at the events is important. If the city is to make this the center of its zero-waste plan, there are many actions it can take to ensure that it diverts as much waste as possible at the events themselves.

We recommend the following actions:

We seek to acquire new accessible and user-friendly recycling, composting, and landfill bins. The bins used previously by the old Events Program were intended to be temporary, and are in need of a refresh moving forward. This is an opportunity to ensure that Philadelphia has the waste infrastructure needed to last for years to come. It’s also a chance to build cohesive branding that makes sustainable waste disposal easy for event-goers. International case studies such as the London 2012 Olympics provide a guide on what type of infrastructure should be invested in to build a zero-waste event system.

We want to implement new guidelines for refillable containers at events, and provide refillable water stations at events that opt into the Events Program. Along with this is communication with the public about when refillable water bottles will be available. This way, there's a chance to cut down on waste from plastic bottles at Philadelphia's events.

We also seek to encourage businesses and event vendors to opt-in to zero-waste by connecting event organizers to vendors that provide sustainable products. Philadelphia is home to many private businesses that offer sustainable services, and event organizers should be able to take advantage of this.

While event organizers should partner with sustainable businesses, so should the city government. There are opportunities for the city to form Public-Private Partnerships to make recycling and composting more efficient. Where the city doesn’t have the capability to sustainably manage its waste, it should turn to private companies who already have experience in the field.

Philadelphia's old bins (above) would need a refresh if brought back. One example to learn from is the bins of the London Olympics (below)

Sustainable businesses already exist in Philadelphia- the city could build on this experience by partnering with them