In June 2026, Philadelphia’s current solid waste and recycling contracts are set to end, and a coalition of policymakers, industry professionals and advocates hope to use the contract expiration as a lever to fundamentally shift the City’s waste management practices toward circular approaches that include reuse, recycling, repair and composting — while addressing environmental justice
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Looking for a place to buy gifts for Valentine’s Day made by local, marginalized artists? The Feminist Flea has got you covered. Organized by local event company House Cat, the Flea will be hosting its second virtual flea market this week February 1-7. There, from the safety of your own home, you can look through
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Sally Quigley is not a farmer. But today, at a food distribution event in the parking lot of CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton, she could fool anyone. She looks down at a table heaping with butternut squash and recalls wistfully how she planted this squash and later got to harvest it. Today, she’s proud to
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Before Melissa Torre brainstorms new scents and ingredients for skin care products, she thinks about food. Prior to founding Vellum St. Soap Company, in 2016, Torre spent about five years running her bakery, Cookie Confidential, as well as 10 years managing Tattooed Mom, on South Street. She credits her experience as a chef with sparking
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In the weeks and months leading up to any election, campaign signs begin to crowd lawns, medians, and planters, and all roads can seem like battleground interstates. The 2020 elections were no different in Philadelphia, with rival campaigns for Senate and House seats, PA Attorney General, PA Auditor General, and State Treasurer adding to the
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I left my position as Zero Waste and Litter Director with much unfinished business. But the most regrettable was the incomplete transition of the Cabinet’s focus on Zero Waste to a more expansive vision of a circular economy in Philadelphia. Don’t get me wrong, a Zero Waste goal was an important first step. Although Zero
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Looking to dispose of old cell phones that live in a drawer and collect dust? How about piles of outfits that no longer fit? The City of Philadelphia’s new partnership with Retrievr lets you do just that, all while abiding by social-distancing guidelines. Retrievr is a pickup service that allows residents to safely and responsibly
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Our recycling system is broken. It was broken before Covid-19 and China’s recycling ban, and the cracks are now beginning to give way to what I hope will be a complete rethinking of what it means to “recycle” as we know it. If you’ve read my columns on gridphilly.com, this intro may sound familiar because
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By Alex Mulcahy
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“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” –F. Scott FitzgeraldI believe in the eureka moment: the experience of discovering something about the world or yourself that changes everything. This magazine has sought out those stories
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By Lois VoltaDear Lois: How can we bring the change we want to see in the world into our domestic lives?
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