Philadelphia – On Tuesday, July 2, 2024, City officials provided a progress report on cleaning every city block as part of the One Philly, United City Citywide Cleaning Program. The goal of the program is to clean every block in the City of Philadelphia over a 13-week period from June 3 through August 26 in support of Mayor Parker’s vision of Philadelphia becoming the safest, cleanest, greenest big city in the nation.

City cleaning crews cleaned and greened along Lancaster Avenue, Upland Way and the 59th Street Bridge. Volunteers joined city forces to clean and green the commercial corridors, playground, and surrounding communities. All participants were invited back to Tustin Recreation Center for lunch and a progress update on the 13-week Citywide Cleaning Program.

Carlton Williams, Director of the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives was joined by City officials, community leaders, local businesses, and volunteers in providing details of the massive effort to address multiple quality of life issues that impact neighborhoods across the city. “I want to thank all the City departments, community groups, businesses and volunteers for working to deliver on the Mayor’s promise to end “Filthadelphia” once and for all,” said Carlton Williams, Director of Clean and Green Initiatives. “Just one month into the program over 5,000 blocks have been cleaned. We are well on target to cleaning approximately 18,000 blocks as part of the Citywide Cleaning Program.”

The Office of Clean and Green Initiatives works in collaboration with various city departments along with quasi-governmental agencies and nonprofits, to employ a proactive and holistic strategy to address the many chronic quality of life issues related to litter, illegal dumping, graffiti, abandoned automobiles, vacant lots, and nuisance properties.

The One Philly, United Citywide Cleaning and Greening Program is a full-service cleaning plan supported by more than a dozen government agencies touching every neighborhood of the city by performing quality-of-life services.

The program operates on a 13-week schedule. The plan utilizes the Department of Sanitation’s pre-established collection routes to implement a comprehensive cleaning strategy with collection services allowing for the cleaning of each neighborhood. Cleaning teams work, in tandem, in each sanitation district until all neighborhoods are cleaned. Litter and trash are most visible on trash and recycling days. Cleaning teams are assigned to a route and will be scheduled to work a day behind the areas trash and recycling collection day to maximize impact.  The Sanitation-led cleaning program coordinates with other City agencies to simultaneously address major quality of life issues and clean additional public spaces in each Sanitation district.

Each agency is charged with tracking data and capturing the work performed so the city and partners can have a full view of the results of this effort. All the initiatives are mapped and visualized at www.officeofcleanandgreen.org. After the 13 weeks, individual crews will be assigned to each of the 10 Councilmanic Districts in the Residential Cleaning Program highlighted in Mayor Parker’s budget address.

                                     2024 Citywide Cleaning Task Cumulative Summary