Philly Council considering new recycling ordinance

A city councilwoman wants to clean up Philadelphia’s decades-old recycling rules. 

There’s a disconnect between Philadelphia’s recycling ordinance and what is going on in the streets of the city.  Even though the rules have changed, the law that governs recycling hasn’t.

For example, Councilwoman Cindy Bass wants the law to reflect that residents no longer sort and separate their recycling.  

“We wanted to be sure we stayed up to date and stayed in front of technology,” she said. “We’re one of the greenest cities in the nation and we want to maintain that.”

Philadelphia throws out less paper and plastic since it adopted “single-stream recycling.”  It currently diverts 20 percent of its waste from landfills, up from just 4 percent eight years ago.

Bass wants the city to focus more on composting to keep even more refuse from landfills.