There are a lot of materials in our lives — from fabric to furniture to fire extinguishers — that can find continued usefulness outside of the waste stream. That’s the idea behind resourcePhilly (resourcephilly.org), a new website that helps residents figure out where to donate, repair and recycle unwanted items responsibly.
Created by Circular Philadelphia, a nonprofit that aims to cultivate a low-waste, regenerative economy, in collaboration with The Resource Exchange, a creative reuse center in Kensington, this project is tackling Philly’s waste problem head-on.
“Philly sends 1.5 million pounds of trash to the incinerator every year, and the Southeastern Pennsylvania region sends 3 million tons that are either burned or buried,” says Circular Philadelphia cofounder Samantha Wittchen. “Our hope is that by giving residents the tools to find better solutions to things they no longer need or want, we can make a dent in that.”
resourcePhilly is a database that allows users to search by item or category. The tool pulls up a list of results across the region, each corresponding to a circle on an interactive map. Each entry gives the name, physical address and URL of a business or organization and indicates where it fits in the circular economy, whether it will recycle, rehome or repair items, say, or empower you to buy, rent or borrow secondhand, bulk, recycled or otherwise more-sustainable-than-usual wares.
One notable feature of the site is that its custom-built algorithm prioritizes local options over national ones like Goodwill or Home Depot. So, a search for everyday items yields familiar Philly operations like Rabbit Recycling, Circle Thrift and the West Philly Tool Library. But you might also discover new names, like Rutabaga Toy Library, PAR-Recycle Works and the Philly Fixers Guild.
A database like this has long been a dream of Wittchen’s. When she discovered that Karyn Gerred, the founder/owner of The Resource Exchange, had for years been maintaining a physical map on the store’s wall listing reliable recycling/reuse centers and organizations, a light bulb went off.
“We started talking about how we could reach a lot more people if this was an online searchable resource,” Wittchen remembers. “The Resource Exchange staff did such a good job maintaining the list, so the foundation was laid for us.”
Circular Philadelphia knew that approaching the City of Philadelphia about funding would be a nonstarter, even though cities like Austin, Texas and New York have piloted similar programs.
“Our City has not chosen to prioritize waste minimization and reuse,” Wittchen says.
Instead, Circular Philadelphia and The Resource Exchange applied for a grant from the Green Family Foundation in fall 2024 and received funding from that organization at the end of the year. After what Wittchen calls “a sprint” to develop the platform, resourcePhilly launched in late June of 2025.
While Wittchen isn’t optimistic that the City will contribute funding for the site’s maintenance, she wonders if the recent labor union strike, which included sanitation workers, will give the issue new urgency.
“We launched at a kind of serendipitous time, right before the strike, when a whole bunch of people were suddenly confronted with the amount of trash we generate and were desperate for alternatives,” she says. “I’m hopeful that this will offer an opportunity for us to reopen a conversation with the City about supporting resourcePhilly.”
