Alisa Shargorodsky, the founder of ECHO Systems, hears it time and time again when she tells someone she works in the waste industry: “Oh, are you guys into recycling?” They’re not. “We’re not here to advocate for recycling,” she’ll say. “We are building infrastructure for radical reuse.” ECHO Systems envisions a world where food service
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In a former municipal building on Rising Sun Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia, cycling enthusiast Rudi Saldia is doing something he never imagined: working at a desk. It was a long and winding road—well, often a straight road on a grid—that led him to Bennett Compost’s Lawncrest headquarters. Before the days of DoorDash and Grubhub, he
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When you think of historic Philadelphia, images of the Liberty Bell, the Declaration of Independence and the Betsy Ross House might come to mind. Now add the genesis of the vegetarian and vegan movements to that list, says the American Vegan Society (AVS). On June 15 the national nonprofit held a soft opening of the
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Alexander Torrey’s business idea came to him shortly after he ran out of hand soap. He’d placed an order for another bottle online, and when the replacement arrived, he was dismayed. “It came in a box the size of my kitchen table,” he remembers. He opened the package, pulled out the soap and put it
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Sometime in the mid-1970s, Amira Abdul-Wakeel baked her first cake in her West Oak Lane childhood home. Her sister and a very close girlfriend all pitched in, and they beamed with pride at their pound cake. Then her mom came home, and exclaimed, “That’s the best corn bread I’ve ever had.” Slighted, but not defeated,
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Matthew Rafferty started off in the restaurant industry as a dishwasher. Now—25 years later—he stands behind the window of his own establishment. It is a Sunday and Algorithm’s cobalt blue food truck is parked on the south side of the 1900 block of Washington Avenue. The truck offers an extensive vegan menu using ingredients sourced
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You don’t need to be an urban planner to appreciate the inherent good of public space. This is what Dena Driscoll, co-chair of the all-volunteer grassroots organization and urbanist political action committee 5th Square wants Philadelphians to know as they reimagine the city beyond the pandemic. Formed in 2014, 5th Square supports candidates for local
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