For years, I’ve been saying that Philadelphia doesn’t have a trash problem — it has a systems problem. People care about their neighborhoods. They want to live on clean, safe blocks. What they often lack is access to the simple tools that make that possible.

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Three months ago, I launched a pilot program called Ya Fav TrashCan, with the goal of placing custom-built 55-gallon steel trash cans along corridors and residential streets where litter builds up the fastest. I started small — just a handful of cans along Girard Avenue in North Philly. The idea was simple: if you make it easier for people to throw trash away properly, they will.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Since installing those first cans, my crew has collected over two tons of trash—yes, t

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