Philly Spring Cleanup: Volunteers aim to make the city green, safe, and clean at annual event

Philadelphia will host its 16th annual Philly Spring Cleanup in hopes to put an end to littering and illegal dumping.

People cleaning up a park with trashbags.

File photo: Penny Giles, pictured with her cleanup crew, co-organzied a spring cleanup in Francisville. (Brad Larrison for WHYY)

Spring has sprung, and for Philadelphia that means plans for the 16th annual Philly Spring Cleanup event is underway. The City of Philadelphia will hold their cleanup event on Saturday, April 15 after the original date was postponed due to weather.

As Philadelphia’s largest city-wide single day cleanup, Philly Spring Cleanup encourages volunteers to beautify Philly’s parks and neighborhoods at nearly 7,000 sites throughout the city.

Green Philly in Tacony and Project Home in North Philadelphia are two of the organizations participating in this year’s event.

The city has been trying to put an end to littering and illegal dumping and since the event’s launch in 2008, more than 200,000 volunteers have removed more than 11.4 million pounds of trash, according to the city.

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In addition to cleaning streets and collecting trash, volunteers will also remove graffiti from walls, paint benches, and plant beds.

If you’re planning to participate in this year’s Philly Spring Cleanup, don’t forget your supplies. The city encourages volunteers to bring their own trash bags, rakes, gloves, shovels, and brooms.

Pre-registration is required to participate in the festivities, and is now closed, according to the city’s website. You can email Phillyspringcleanup@phila.gov for more information.

The goal of the Philly Spring Cleanup is to make Philadelphia a green, safe, and clean place to live.

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