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How recycling lost its way in Philadelphia and what can be done to get it back on track

In July 2020, after spending several months of the pandemic wondering whether her trash and recycling would be picked up, Sarah Ausprich was frustrated. When it was collected, Ausprich, a resident of Philly’s East Passyunk neighborhood, watched sanitation crews repeatedly combine her trash and recycling in the same truck. Disillusioned by curbside collection, she decided

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12 mins read
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A new nonprofit works to shift our economy from linear to loop

Grid spoke in October with Samantha Wittchen, director of programs and operations at Circular Philadelphia, which she cofounded (with Grid’s Nic Esposito) in June 2021. Circular Philadelphia aims to drive the growth of a thriving circular economy in Greater Philadelphia through advocacy, education, infrastructure development and collaboration. The following interview has been edited for length

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4 mins read
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Revolution Recovery leaders discuss where the market for recycling used building materials has been— and where they hope it’s headed

Revolution Recovery was founded in 2004, borne out of cofounder Avi Golen’s shock while cleaning out construction sites and witnessing the mass amounts of drywall that contractors were throwing away. He contacted his college friend Jon Wybar and pitched him the idea to find recycling markets for these materials. Since then, Revolution Recovery has added

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5 mins read
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Philly Reclaim founder says the organization is in trouble and the city has the power to save it

To Greg Trainor, executive director of Philly Reclaim, deconstruction is a no-brainer. An environmentally-friendlier alternative to demolition, deconstruction diverts building materials from the landfill and enables, through reuse, preservation of the embodied energy therein. And because systematically dismantling a building is more labor-intensive than leveling it with an excavator or a wrecking ball, deconstruction promises

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4 mins read
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Sustainable businesses of the 2000s paved the way for the innovative ventures of today

Successful businesses always start by filling a need or relieving a “pain point” for a target market. In Grid’s launch year 2008, when sustainability and “going green” were working their way into the common lexicon and Michael Nutter was elected Philadelphia’s mayor on a sustainability platform, the pain point was really located in the consumer’s

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11 mins read
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Antique lover-turned-jeweler reworks old treasures with an eye for today

Feast jewelry’s Adrienne Manno doesn’t upcycle because it’s trendy or because she’s on some sustainability soapbox. Manno describes the reclaim-and-repurpose aspect of her jewelry making as an organic outgrowth of incorrigible collecting. On her once-frequent travels, Manno would spot and acquire a piece here, an element there, a 1980s faux horn belt at a London

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2 mins read
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Antique lover turned jeweler breathes fresh life into old treasures

Feast Jewelry’s Adrienne Manno doesn’t upcycle because it’s trendy. Or because she’s on some sustainability soapbox. Manno describes the reclaim-and-repurpose aspect of her jewelry making as an organic outgrowth of incorrigible collecting. On her used-to-be-frequent travels, Manno would spot and acquire a piece here, an element there—a 1980s faux horn belt at a London flea

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2 mins read
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Video: Philadelphia Businesses and Organizations are Building a Circular and Sustainable Textile Industry

Watch how organizations like Fabscrap and All Together Now PA are supporting sustainable clothing designers like Lobo Mau increasing textile recycling to build a circular textile industry in Philadelphia. Read the full cover story here. Grid and Fabscrap are also hosting a live panel discussion on the cover story on Jan 19th, register here.

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1 min read
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With the addition of Fabscrap, Philly’s textile industry moves closer to circularity

Lindsey Troop is the regional manager for Fabscrap Philadelphia. Photography by Drew Dennis. Fashion Forward By Samantha Wittchen Jordan Haddad sat in his 1,800 square-foot studio in South Philly’s BOK. The waste was piling up.  His local sustainable fashion company, Lobo Mau, had been saving fabric scraps from all of the clothing it designed and

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13 mins read
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