What’s next for the Office of Clean and Green? Advocates say the next leader needs to go beyond clean

Carlton Williams is leaving the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives after helping launch Mayor Parker’s anti-litter efforts. Community leaders say his successor should build on that work while tackling the root causes of waste.

Carlton Williams, the inaugural director of Philadelphia’s Office of Clean and Green Initiatives, is leaving the role less than three years after helping launch Mayor Parker’s vision of the city’s citywide cleanup effort. As the city searches for his replacement, community leaders say the next director should build on recent progress while expanding the office’s focus beyond litter cleanup.

Just a few months into her first year, Mayor Cherelle Parker signed an executive order in 2024, creating the office and appointing Williams as its director. In a separate order, the mayor also established the Clean and Green cabinet, a group of about thirty volunteers from a cross-section of businesses, government, and the private sector. The cabinet and the department were assigned specific charges with timelines.

The office was charged with addressing “quality-of-life issues such as litter, abandoned autos, graffiti, nuisance businesses, and illegal dumping,” according to a city press release. The office oversees the Department of Streets, the Community Life Empowerment Program (CLIP), and the PHL Taking Care of Business Clean Corridors Program.

What the Office has Accomplished So Far

The Clean and Green Cabinet’s October 2025 report touts accomplishments including cleaning over 30,000 vacant lots, launching twice-weekly cleanups in Center City and South Philadelphia, and ramping up enforcement against illegal dumping. The report cites $3 million in judgments related to illegal dumping, although it is not clear how much of that money has been collected.

The Trash Academy, a community group that views litter and dumping as environmental and racial injustice issues, commended the Office for its work thus far.

 “We appreciate the incredible groundwork of [Williams] improving cleaning and enforcement practices and building collaboration across city departments for a cleaner,  greener city,” the group said in a statement.  

While the report highlights progress on cleaning neighborhoods and cracking down on illegal dumping, it says little about the broader environmental sustainability goals outlined when the office was created. Parker’s 100-day action plan promised the initiative would also help advance the city’s carbon neutrality goals, increase public transit use, expand the tree canopy and reduce waste through recycling and other sustainability efforts. Those priorities receive little attention in the cabinet’s first report.

Looking beyond litter

For some advocates, that’s where the next phase of the office’s work should begin. 

Circular Philadelphia Executive Director Candace Lawton said the city’s cleanup efforts improve neighborhoods but don’t address the underlying causes of waste generation.

“In a circular economy, materials never become waste and nature is regenerated, Lawton said. “Products and materials are kept in circulation through processes like maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling, and composting.”  

She added that in this type of economy, recycling is at the latter stage.

Lawton said cleaning vacant lots, removing graffiti and increasing trash pickups improve residents’ quality of life, but those efforts alone won’t reduce how much waste Philadelphia produces.

“Without some sort of public target or material management strategy, there’s really no evidence that the underlying waste problem has really changed at all,” she said. “Otherwise we’re going to spend the next two years cleaning up the same problem instead of actually solving it.”

Circular Philadelphia’s recommendations to the city include policies to reduce single-use legislation and divert more construction debris through reuse and recycling. Lawton said she is not aware of a city response to the organization’s recommendations submitted during the city’s solid waste planning process.

What advocates want from the next director

Jeremy Chen, founder of Klean Kensington, a 2025 Sustain PHL nominee, said his organization values its partnership with CLIP but would like more direct communication with the city and more opportunities for neighborhood groups to receive cleanup contracts.

He recalled one instance in which a contractor accidentally destroyed four bushes that volunteers had planted while clearing a vacant lot.

“It’d be great if Kensington could take care of Kensington.”

Lawton agreed that the next director should combine community engagement with expertise in waste systems and the circular economy.

“The next director needs to have expertise in waste systems and circular economy, which is very different than operations and enforcement,” she said. “But we remain hopeful. Waste generation didn’t happen overnight, and the solutions are going to take time.”

Williams begins his new role as managing director Aug. 17. The city has not yet named his replacement.

Photo: Claudia Salvato