resourcePhilly is a dynamic and continuously updated online tool that helps Philadelphians easily find places to donate or recycle unwanted items, instead of throwing them away:
Users type in items they’d like to donate or sell and the platform provides a prioritized list of resources with links and information.
The platform offers solutions for donating or selling items that can’t go in your curbside recycling bin, like roller skates, garden hoses, musical instruments, bubble wrap, string lights, drywall, wine corks, batteries, Amazon mailers, and bed sheets, as well as basic products like clothing.
resourcePhilly will also help users find businesses and organizations to patronize that prioritize reuse and waste minimization, sell second hand, and offer bulk items.
Circular Philadelphia and The Resource Exchange, in partnership with software company Urality, launched resourcePhilly at an event last night.
For the last 10 years, The Resource Exchange, a Kensington-based arts thrift store that promotes creative reuse, has maintained a physical version of resourcePhilly in the front of its 6,000 sq. ft. store.
Currently, hundreds of customers each month turn to the hand painted, 3-by-4-foot green and blue corkboard map dotted with white tacks and paper guides to find places to donate unwanted items.
The Resource Exchange maintains the database and regularly directs would-be donors to the right place.
“Maintaining the corkboard version of resourcePhilly is a labor of love,” said Karyn Gerred, Executive Director, The Resource Exchange. “My team and I spend hours every month making phone calls and emails to local businesses and organizations to keep it as updated as possible. Making reuse and recycling turnkey for busy people is key to making it sustainable and scalable. By turning resourcePhilly into an online search engine, we will reach exponentially more people and truly make a dent in the 1,150,000 tons of waste that Philadelphia burns and buries every year.”
Circular Philadelphia brings together individuals, businesses, manufacturers, institutions, local government, and policy makers to work collaboratively to keep materials and products in circulation, rather than discarding them as waste.
The organization is known for its Zero Waste at Home Guide, which guides people on living a more zero waste lifestyle in the Philadelphia area.
“resourcePhilly is an important step toward making Philadelphia cleaner and greener,” said Samantha Wittchen, Co-founder and Interim Executive Director, Circular Philadelphia. “Until now, there has been no comprehensive online tool like this in Philly and even our engaged members struggle to find these resources. resourcePhilly fills that gap.”
To build resourcePhilly, Circular Philadelphia surveyed hundreds of people and conducted one-on-one interviews to learn about challenges that Philadelphians face when trying to pass on items that can’t go in the recycling bin.
The organization will continue to collect feedback from users and make adjustments to the platform.
Businesses and organizations will be able to update their own information, greatly reducing the staff time needed to maintain the database.
Even other big cities don’t have a user-friendly, one-stop-shop like this, which focuses on reuse over recycling. resourcePhilly prioritizes reuse to keep items circulating in the economy because it saves more energy and material than recycling does.
“Circularity is environmental justice,” Wittchen continued. “The Chester incinerator drives higher asthma and pollution rates in an already under-resourced population. By reducing waste and encouraging environmentally-friendly practices, resourcePhilly aims to break this unjust cycle that our current disposal systems create.”
Visit the resourcePhilly website and get started.
For more information on other initiatives, upcoming events and how you can get involved, visit the Circular Philadelphia and The Resource Exchange websites.
Related Articles This Week:
-- PA Resources Council Receives 2025 Governor's Award For Environmental Excellence For Hard-To-Recycling Collection Events [PaEN]
-- Senate Republicans Moving Bill To Abolish DEP Climate Change, Recycling Fund, Coastal Zone Advisory Committees [PaEN]
-- Keep PA Beautiful: Learn More About Rural Municipal Waste Transfer Facilities [PaEN]
-- Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority Now Accepting Applications For Recycling Mini-Grants [PaEN]
-- Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority Names Jason Neidig New Executive Director
-- DEP Accepting Applications For Recycling Performance Grants Until Dec. 31
-- Reminder: The Giant Company, Keep PA Beautiful Accepting Healing The Planet Tree Planting Grant Applications Until July 1 [PaEN]
[Posted: June 27, 2025] PA Environment Digest
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