Philadelphia launches ‘Alleygators’ program to help residents clear trash and vegetation from alleys

Have a question about Philly’s neighborhoods or the systems that shape them? PlanPhilly reporters want to hear from you! Ask us a question or send us a story idea you think we should cover.

Philadelphia residents who need help clearing trash and vegetation out of alleyways next to their homes can now request a team of “Alleygators” through a dedicated online portal.

The city’s Office of Clean and Green Initiatives launched the Alleygator program as part of the city’s biannual, 13-week citywide cleaning program.

“While they are the responsibility of the resident, sometimes alleyways just get so overwhelmed with trash that residents don’t have the ability to be able to do it themselves,” said City Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, who represents Kensington, at an event announcing the new initiative Monday. “If your alleyway is dirty, if your alleyway doesn’t have a light, if your alleyway needs attention, call us.”

Employees in the city’s Future Track job-training program will be reassigned from other cleanup and beautification tasks to focus on alleyway cleanups under the Alleygator initiative. The program will augment the city’s existing alley-cleanup efforts through the Department of Sanitation and Community Life Improvement Program, or CLIP.

The city’s existing programs have cleaned over 3,000 alleyways since 2023, said Carlton Williams, director of Philadelphia’s Office of Clean and Green Initiatives. The new program will add capacity to clean around 300 alleyways per year, Williams said. There are an estimated 16,000 alleyways in Philadelphia.

“We get a tremendous amount of calls from residents who don’t have the means to clean up the alleys, because they’ve gotten so bad over the years,” Williams said. “They need heavy equipment. They need bodies. They need people dedicated to get it done.”

Lozada said inaccessible alleys can create a safety issue if first responders aren’t able to get through.

“We want our neighborhoods to be safe,” she said. “We want our alleyways to be accessible for us as residents, but for our first responders, as well.”

Residents can request the service through a form on the Office of Clean and Green website. Williams said residents will be notified when their cleanup is scheduled and can work alongside the Future Track employees to clean their alleys.

Each alley will be limited to one cleanup per year.

13-week citywide cleanup launches for the summer

Philadelphia’s biannual, citywide cleanup launches this week in Port Richmond. Cleanup crews will wind their way around the city over the next 13 weeks, traveling through the Riverwards to North Philadelphia, then to South and West Philadelphia, and finishing in late July in Northwest and Northeast Philadelphia.

In addition to picking up trash and litter, city workers and partners will remove abandoned cars, clean up graffiti, fill potholes, maintain vacant lots, inspect properties and enforce city code.

Williams said the city has performed over 350,000 individual quality-of-life services through the citywide cleanup program since it launched in 2024.