Philly’s use of Reworld incinerator in Chester comes under Council scrutiny at budget hearings

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A bill that would stop Philadelphia from burning its trash at the Reworld incinerator in Chester is stuck in City Council without the votes to pass, but budget hearings on Tuesday made it clear the issue is not going away.

Pollution from Reworld has been an issue for years and even came up in the 2023 mayoral election when then-candidate Cherelle Parker attacked another candidate for saying he didn’t care about the impact on the city of Chester.

However, the Parker administration has been fighting an effort to end the city’s use of the incinerator when its current contract with Reworld expires on June 30.

Still, Parker’s Clean and Green Director Carlton Williams testified at the budget hearing that the bill has prompted the city to study the environmental impact of proposals for a new waste disposal contract. To make sure Council has time to consider the results, the city will extend the current contract for six months to a year, before it signs a new, long-term agreement.

“We want to make sure that we get it right. We certainly don’t want to rush it,” said Williams.

That was surprising but welcome news to Councilmember Jaime Gauthier. She sponsored a bill to ban all burning of city trash. The bill doesn’t have the votes to pass but Gauthier said she was encouraged the city wouldn’t rush into a new, long-term contract with Reworld.

Multiple sources said Parker personally lobbied against Gauthier’s bill. The mayor received a $3,700 campaign contribution from Reworld in December. Her political spokesperson Aren Platt noted the mayor has raised more than $3 million from 2,000 donors. Platt also stressed that her record is crystal clear that not a single contribution has ever influenced a policy decision.

Incinerator opponents held a small protest before the hearing, urging the city not to renew its contract with Reworld, but Council President Kenyatta Johnson shut them down quickly when they tried to disrupt testimony from Williams.