WHEREAS, Currently, Philadelphia diverts about 71% of our solid waste to landfill, and 29% to incineration. About 30% of this waste is compostable, including food scraps, yard trimmings, and other organic material. In April 2026, the City's Director of Clean and Green Initiatives testified before City Council that managing those materials differently, together with better recycling, could allow the City to divert this waste from landfills and incinerators; and
WHEREAS, Organic waste that is burned adds to the air pollution borne by neighboring communities, while composting returns nutrients to the soil, helps the ground hold stormwater, reduces reliance on chemical fertilizers, and supplies free compost to the gardens and urban farms that grow fresh food in neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia does not collect organic waste at the curb, and the City's composting efforts today consist mainly of the Fairmount Park Organic Recycling Center, the Farm Philly Community Compost Network of volunteer-run sites at gardens, farms, schools, and recreation centers, which launched in 2019 and has grown to 23 sites with more expected this year, and a drop-off pilot announced this spring that will accept food scraps at ten locations; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia also operates public-private composting partnerships with Bennett Compost in the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Prisons, but these programs are not yet open to the public; and
WHEREAS, These programs reach only a small share of the City's residents, the volunteer network diverted roughly 12,000 pounds of food scraps in 2025 while the City disposes of hundreds of thousands of tons of organic waste each year, most households and small businesses have no convenient or affordable way to compost, and restaurants, groceries, and institutions generate the majority of the City's food waste; and
WHEREAS, Separating organic waste into compost can also improve public health by reducing pests like rats which can carry disease. Rats can smell food waste and other decaying organic matter from over 50 feet away, making garbage bags left at the curb an easy target; and
WHEREAS, Since 2017, Washington DC’s Department of Public Works has offered food waste drop-off at farmers markets and public smart bins, rebates for residents who compost at home, and, beginning in 2023, curbside food waste collection that started as a pilot for 9,000 households, became a permanent program, and has grown to 12,000 households with priority for low-income neighborhoods, diverting more than eleven million pounds of food waste from landfills and incinerators, including more than 3.3 million pounds in 2025 alone; and
WHEREAS, The Committee on Public Health and Human Services has jurisdiction over matters affecting the health of the City's residents, including environmental health, air and water quality, and access to healthy food; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the Committee on Public Health and Human Services is hereby authorized to hold public hearings on composting in Philadelphia, including current best practices here and in cities such as Washington, DC, gaps in the City's composting programs and infrastructure, and ways to encourage residents and businesses alike to compost, so that the City may become cleaner, greener, more resilient, and more sustainable.
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