Proposal for monthly flea markets to replace monthly partnership recycling events
Dear Mayor Nutter:
Hello!
It's great that single-stream, curbside recycling is coming to Chestnut Hill in July and other areas of the City but that's no reason to end our monthly recycling program; let's expand our notion of recycling and recycle household goods and light furniture! So many of these items, still usable, residents put out with their trash, with no disincentive nor incentive to do otherwise, adding tons to our waste stream.
Let's hold monthly "flea" or second-hand markets at the present recycling locations. Tables can be rented for, say, $10 to $20 with the fee benefiting the neighborhood community groups that have been
benefiting from partnership recycling funds. Thrift stores might want to haul off what vendors cannot sell and otherwise wou
ld put out with their trash.
Recycling days have been marked by the camaraderie of neighbors seeing and talking with one another. This builds community and has been an important side benefit of the program. Additionally, in these hard
economic times, households might be even more interested in converting their unused things to cash.
Of the "three R's" (reduce, recycle and reuse), reducing our consumption and reusing what we have yield greater environmental benefits than simply recycling so much stuff and packaging.
What do you think?
Ever Green,
Brian Rudnick
Copies:
Chestnut Hill Community Association
East Mount Airy Neighbors
West Mount Airy Neighbors
Weavers Way Cooperative Association
Bob Pierson, Partnership Recycling
Clarena Tolson, Philadelphia Streets Commissioner
Scott McGrath, Philadelphia Recycling Coordinator
Penn Future
Philadelphia Councilpersons
