Final Philly Unwrapped Community Engagement Event
September 14 @ 1:30 pm – 5:30 pm
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Join us for the sixth and final session of Philly Unwrapped, a coalition–driven initiative working to establish a city–wide reuse system in Philadelphia. Over the past year, this series has brought together restaurant owners, cafés, caterers, corner stores, food trucks, event venues, hospitality operators, community leaders, and public officials to explore practical waste prevention strategies that work in Philadelphia. This session is proudly co–hosted with the Eastwick Friends and Neighbors Coalition (EFNC), an Environmental Justice community organization in Southwest Philadelphia’s Eastwick neighborhood, a traditionally underserved community low–lying, predominantly minority area built on former marshland at the confluence of Darby and Cobbs Creeks, where climate change is worsening already–severe flood risk (First Street Foundation estimates roughly 1,536 properties face major flood risk over the next 30 years). For over a decade, the coalition’s President Earl Wilson and Vice President Ramona Rousseau Reid of Eastwick Friends & Neighbors Coalition have led environmental justice work there, with the collaboration of major supporting environmental groups, multiple residents stopping a proposed apartment housing development consisting of 722 unit apartment complex, 1,043 parking spaces on 35 acres of land near 86th Street & Lindbergh Blvd. adjacent to John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge. The site was zoned for single–family homes and included areas designated by FEMA as a Special Flood Hazard Area, making it highly vulnerable to flooding in the Eastwick community along Darby Creek that would have worsened flooding for existing homes. In addition, the Eastwick community, and historic organizing that forced the closure of the Clearview Landfill in 1973 and pushed for EPA testing of toxins on the site a concern made urgent by nearby industrial land, including the former largest oil refinery on the Eastern Seaboard, since floodwaters can carry contaminants into residential areas. More recently, the city and FEMA have directed resilience funding toward the neighborhood, including a $2M+ FEMA grant.
This session is split into two parts. First, we’ll walk through how to get the most out of the Philly Unwrapped Toolkit, a free resource built to help businesses reduce single–use packaging, cut costs, and build stronger community trust. Then Trash Academy will lead a community SWOC session, an open discussion on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges of reuse and waste reduction efforts across Philadelphia.
If you’re in the food, beverage, event, or hospitality sector, or you support these industries through a CDC, neighborhood association, represent a city agency or office or community–based organization, or concerned citizen, this session is for you, whether you’ve been with us since the launch or are just getting involved, your voice is critical and we welcome you.
Philly Unwrapped is managed by ECHO Systems and funded by the Region 3 EPA Thriving Communities Green and Healthy Home Initiative, in partnership with SBN, ReThink Disposable/Clean Water Fund & Trash Academy. This event is supported by The Story of Stuff Project, with matching support from Jeffery A Miller Hospitality, co–hosted with the Eastwick Friends and Neighbors Coalition.
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