March 3, 2025 – This week, the Committee on Streets and Services met to discuss resolution 240827, the ever-growing matter of illegal dumping in Philadelphia, and the city’s response to the issue.
The chair of the committee, Jefferey Young, Jr., and the vice-chair, Mark Squilla, held the hearing and discussed the problem in the streets and potential solutions. Illegal dumping of trash and waste is a hazard to the decent quality of life of people in Philadelphia communities and neighborhoods. Illegal dumping and trash waste not only ruin our city physically but is harmful to our unity and self-esteem.
When we see our city in such disarray, we begin to internalize that and believe we are worth nothing more. Councilwoman Nina Ahmed stated during the hearing that this is a health and wellness issue, an issue of how we feel mentally about our surroundings and how they represent us as a community. “When you divest from a community, they feel they don’t matter,” stated Ahmed.
Ahmed also echoed President Kenyatta Johnson’s words on how this culture change is necessary: being mindful of our impact on the environment and our city is imperative. Councilman Anthony Phillips of the Ninth District was also on board, declaring illegal dumping a “direct threat to public health and neighborhood safety and environmental stability” before publicizing that Philadelphia spends at least 48 million dollars annually on cleanup. Yet those efforts are always after the fact and never done so in prevention.
The council brought Carlton Williams, director of the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives, before them. Williams shared Mayor Parker’s vision to ensure that Philadelphia is the greenest and cleanest major city in America and outlined the three goals she has to implement her idea.
The mayor’s first goal was to create a green, clean cabinet comprised of government officials, community-based organizations, and community leaders to initiate the best practices for cleaning up the city. The mayor intends to combat illegal dumping, reduce waste, and improve the city’s environmental footprint by working with professionals and deciding on the best course of action.
Her second goal was to develop a new approach to addressing the consistent threats to the quality of life that various trash waste issues pose. Mayor Parker intends to tackle short dumping, littering, graffiti, and potholes to clean up the city. The plan is to pay attention to the neighborhoods that hit the hardest and partner with community members to expedite the improvement process.
The mayor’s third and final goal is to build and grow key litter prevention programs that will cover more neighborhoods and streets in Philadelphia. The PHL TCB (Philadelphia Taking Care of Business program) has already begun this initiative and strives to cover additional and increased neighborhoods and increase efforts in neighborhoods already being cleaned. Additional trash cans will be installed in residential areas to further decrease the amount of litter in the city.
The Office of Clean and Green Initiatives was established in part to make these three goals possible and to improve the streets of Philadelphia. It also had a hand in the creation of the cleaning program implemented in June 2024, “One Philly United City Citywide CleanUp,” a 13-week cleaning event partnering with all departments in the city. From street cleaning to horticulture, the event was a significant success and is now becoming the standard in how the city will be taken care of. The citywide cleanup carried out over 100,00- services and covered 30,000 blocks in all ten council districts, according to Williams. The cleaning program will now become a twice-annual occurrence, taking place from May to July and once more from November to January.
