A few days ago I had the opportunity to participate in an environmental convening hosted by Philadelphia city councilperson Jamie Gauthier. For four hours I spent time talking to a bunch of smart, solutions-oriented people, along with Gauthier herself and her staff, about how we might move Philly from being a city drowning in trash, toward the ideal of a zero waste future.
It should be no secret to anyone who pays me even the slightest bit of attention that I am, let’s say, “cynical” toward the government at every level (municipal, state, federal), but I will say that Gauthier, for her part, convened this group, spoke earnestly with and listened to us, in a clearly good faith effort. What will come of our enormous collective brainstorm, given that she is just one person in a labyrinthine bureaucracy? Time will tell, I suppose, and I will do whatever part I am called to do.
Yet at the same time, I felt a striking cognitive dissonance between these good faith efforts on the part of one city councilperson, and this “notice of violation” that I received in the mail. The notice itself is vague, reading: “RECYC NOT SEP TYPE“, and ordering me to pay a fine. Nothing about this indicates what exactly I’ve done wrong, or why it should cost me $50.
As it happens, though, I do know the “violation” committed, because a month or so ago I found some guy rooting through the trash in front of my house. Naturally, I approached him to find out what he was doing, at which time he informed me that I am not supposed to put my recycling in a plastic bag, that it should go directly into the bin.
What? I have lived in my house for three years, and have diligently separated my recyclables from the garbage (side note: I compost, too), placing them in a neatly-cinched bag, so that the items don’t end up strewn about the neighborhood due to the meddling of curious cats or enterprising raccoons. Never once have I received a notice, nor have I ever heard anything by word of mouth, of any policy change.
Meanwhile, the corner of my block is a regular dumping site. I have to constantly clean up trash in front of my house from random passersby, or stray refuse spilled by sanitation workers focused more on speed and efficiency than keeping blocks clean.
Meanwhile, these same sanitation workers were just recently on strike for better wages and benefits, until being arm-twisted by mayor Cherelle Parker into accepting a woefully inadequate contract.
And meanwhile, the city sends a large portion of its trash to an incinerator in Chester, polluting the air of that mostly Black city, contributing to a longstanding environmental injustice.
I’m expected to pay a fine for putting my recyclables into a plastic bag, even though those same recyclables often end up mixed in with regular trash, and sent to the Chester incinerator or in a landfill?
How should I read this, except as an attempt by Parker’s administration to nickel and dime residents for additional revenue, while kowtowing to private development?
While Parker mostly avoids talking to local media, she is partial to one-way press conferences, flanked by an entourage of nameless toadies, where she spins half-truths and lies by omission, toggling between teary eyes and stern-faced proclamations delivered with the cadence of a black preacher parody.
This all from the person who ran on a platform of making Philly “the cleanest, greenest city”. It’s almost comical. Except there’s nothing funny about having to steer a stroller through an obstacle course of trash, just to take my kid to the playground.
There’s nothing funny about Philly continuing to choke out Chester, while Parker brow-beats the public and bullies her own employees.
How should I reconcile this contradiction between the earnest attempts to address Philly’s waste problems on one side from Gauthier and her team, and bloated rhetoric and hand-waving from Parker on the other?
I have one idea.
At some point during the sanitation worker strike, in holding the line for austerity, and denying her workers what they deserve, Parker was quoted as saying “If that means I’m a one-term mayor, then so be it.”
So let’s put that shit on a T-shirt. And ensure that at least one thing out of Parker’s mouth turns out to be true in 2027.