It’s in the bag

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

A lot of local recycling advocates complain that Philadelphia lags behind other major cities, in some cases far behind, in implementing environmentally friendly measures for its rubbish collection.
Yet, the way that many of the area’s apartment buildings, condominium complexes and other private residential developments handle recycling can make the city look like the Sierra Club.
"You’ll find that a lot of apartment buildings don’t recycle," explains Sheila Grossman, 74, a longtime member of the Friends of Pennypack Park who helps organize the group’s monthly recyclable collection days at Abraham Lincoln High School.
When Grossman and several other local seniors moved into the newly built Villages at Pine Valley community in Fox Chase about a year ago, they found the same conditions. A private company handles their trash collection.
So they decided to start up their own recycling program. Each month, they spare numerous carloads of paper and plastics from ending up in landfills by gathering it and delivering it to the park advocacy group on designated collection days.
Not only are their efforts a shining example of "thinking globally" while "acting locally," they help the Friends raise money for needed park maintenance and improvements.
"As (members of) Friends of Pennypack Park, we were recyclists before we moved in here," said Ken Rudolph, 84, who lives with wife Norma, 74, in the Villages. "When we moved in, we asked the builder, ‘Where do we recycle?’ And he said, ‘We don’t.’"
"People looked around and said, ‘We always recycled at (our previous) home,’" Norma Rudolph added.
In no time, the Rudolphs got together with Grossman and another longtime Friends group member, Florence Brodman, 78, to get a recycling program going in the building.
"I saw all of the waste that was happening and it was hurting us all," Brodman said.
Yet another resident, George Solis, 76, was so impressed when he saw his neighbors loading their cars with bundled papers and empty plastic bottles one Sunday, he enthusiastically joined their informal recycling committee and the Friends group.
"These people are so devoted to what they do, it’s amazing," Solis said.
The group’s methods aren’t complicated. In fact, the biggest need is the willingness to do some legwork.
By Grossman’s count, there are about 65 occupied apartments in the four-story building. She and her colleagues use fliers and word-of-mouth to encourage their neighbors to save paper and plastic products. Neighbors can then deliver the recyclables to the apartments of any of the Friends group members.
Brodman stores much of the items in her bathroom. As the collection grows, she and the others begin stashing the items inside a locked guardhouse at their complex. By the time the third Sunday of each month arrives, they’ve usually got countless large bags sitting around.
"By the end of the third week, you can’t fit a tissue paper in there," Brodman said.
That’s when it all goes to Lincoln, where the Friends group has been holding public recycling collections for the last decade.
"My husband sometimes makes three trips filling up his car," Norma Rudolph said.
"Florence has her car loaded. George has his car loaded," Ken Rudolph said. "We have other people who are members (of the Friends) and they bring their own stuff down."
The city’s Department of Streets helps out at Lincoln each month by sending two trucks to collect paper and one to collect plastics. The program produces income for the Friends group. In the past it has used the money to pay for benches, tables and trash cans installed around the park. All are made from recycled plastic.
As occupancy of the Villages has grown in the last year, so has the volume of recyclables collected there by the Friends group members.
"As people were moving in each month, there was someone else recycling," Grossman said.
"It’s getting to be a lot, but I’m not sure if everybody (in the building) does it," Norma Rudolph said.
"A lot of them were used to recycling before, so they’re willing to participate," Brodman said.
Brodman and her friends view their endeavor as not only a valuable service, but also a great social activity.
"If you look, we’re all smiling because it’s gratifying," Brodman said.
"We have a lot of fun doing this," Norma Rudolph said.
Their message is simple — just because your building doesn’t recycle, it doesn’t mean that you can’t do it.
"That’s right," Norma Rudolph said.
For more information about recycling and monthly collections by the Friends of Pennypack Park, visit www.balford.com/fopp or call 215-934-PARK. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com