The City of Philadelphia and the selected vendor will enter into a contract that specifies the payment amounts associated with specific deliverables of the project.

Yes, individuals and sole proprietorships are eligible, along with companies.

The selected vendor will be required to submit a W-9 or W-8 form to receive payment. Payments from the City may be subject to taxes, but we are unable to provide tax advice. We recommend you review the instructions on the W-9 or W-8 forms and/or consult with a tax professional to understand your tax liability.

Yes. As part of this program, we are focused on selecting technology- and app-enabled solutions only.

Yes, as long as they are accompanied by a technology-enabled component.

Yes. OIT and the relevant departments will work closely with the selected technology provider to ensure project success.

Yes! We welcome companies of all stages to participate. While local solution providers will receive preference over those from outside Philadelphia (where proposal quality is similar), we welcome participation from well-qualified innovators everywhere.

The City will work with the selected vendor to provide cloud hosting for the development of the pilot project as relevant. Costs do not have to be included in the $34,000 budget. Please outline the anticipated needs for hosting during development and implementation in your proposal.

The Miscellaneous Purchase Order (PDF) is a data sheet completed by the Finance Department that summarizes the scope of the project, vendor information, and the contract amount.

We expect a broad range of proposed solutions. The specific individuals who will be involved in the pilot will depend on and be responsive to the type of solution proposed and the anticipated evaluation metrics. We encourage applicants to include information about proposed partners in their proposals.

We are open to discussing the ownership structure of the proposed solution. If you have specific concerns or parameters around ownership, please discuss them briefly in your proposal.

Some raw or disaggregated Hydrate Philly data can be shared with the selected solution providers in accordance with Institutional Review Board-approved protocols (e.g., anonymized and when informed consent documents allow). These would primarily be center-level variables.

Our current understanding of the percentage of Philadelphians who prefer bottled water to tap water is based on PWD’s Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey. PWD and its partners will work with the selected vendor to help them better understand the underlying annual survey data while protecting the anonymity and privacy of survey respondents.

Solid waste and single-stream recycling are picked up in separate trucks once a week for every residential, single-family property in the City. Multi-family residences under six units and commercial storefronts can pay a $300-per-year fee for weekly city pick-up as long as all they need is a once-a-week pick-up.

Otherwise, all other commercial properties of six units or more and facilities that need multiple pick-ups are picked up through private hauling contracts that the State of Pennsylvania regulates.

Each sanitation truck for recycling and trash is responsible for confirming that they have completed their route. If for any reason a collection is missed, residents can call the Department of Streets or report it through 311.

Residential trash and recycling are collected weekly. Department of Streets staff sets collection routes for public bins, supplemented by daily data on full BigBelly bins. Parks & Rec staff sets collection schedules based on site-specific needs.

Solid waste is either sent to an alternative fuel production or waste-to-energy facility, based on logistical and geographic considerations. All single-stream recycling goes to a material recovery facility that separates the materials by category (glass, plastic, mixed paper, cardboard, cartons, aluminum, tin, etc.)

The Department of Streets has conducted audits for solid waste every 5–10 years but is considering increasing that frequency. Through our new recycling contract, Streets will begin quarterly audits of recycling. Audit data can be made available upon award.

You can find the relevant annual data about waste diversion rates on the Greenworks Dashboard. A more detailed breakdown of the most recent data is available in the 2019 Zero Waste and Litter Cabinet Update.

That is not a project the City is currently planning.

Historically, we have relied on diversion data by the sanitation district to identify where more recycling outreach and awareness is needed. The City is divided into 13 sanitation districts. These awareness campaigns are developed through the Department of Streets with input from the Solid Waste & Recycling Advisory Committee. Much of the design is done by an advertising firm on contract.

For this pilot project, we look to the vendors to propose appropriate monitoring and evaluation procedures. Performance should be based on the proposal’s deliverables as outlined by the applicants. Those will be supplemented with the City’s expertise and we intend to work closely with the selected vendor to assess performance.

Current data includes tonnage for MSW and recycling, and tonnage for estimated contamination for recycling, by sanitation district. Historical tonnage data for MSW and recycling is stored going back five years. Recycling contamination data dates back to May 2019. Older tonnage data for MSW and recycling has been archived but can still be accessed.

The School District and SEPTA collect data on their own recycling and solid waste tonnages and Parks & Rec maintains tonnages on food recovery.

The Zero Waste and Litter Cabinet also collects waste management practices data on all municipal buildings through the Municipal Building Waste Audit. The Department of Streets collects data on the waste management practices of all commercial buildings through the Commercial Waste Report. This data allows us to see what waste management practices (recycling, composting, food recovery) these buildings are utilizing and where they need further assistance.

Weight data is maintained in a database system, readily converted into Excel. The Weights subsystem manages the processing and downloading of data from different disposal sites. The data is stored in the Scale tables which are created for each contracted disposal and recycling vendor. Reports can then be generated that provide the tools to be able to access comprehensive and detailed historical weight information. All the data is compiled and maintained in-house by Department of Streets’ sanitation analysts.

Municipal building waste audit and commercial waste report information is collected through an online form and stored in Excel.

Approximately 585,000.

Yes, we have staff in five departments who conduct litter surveys once a year on all pieces of public property. We also have Streets and Walkways Education and Enforcement Program (SWEEP) officers who conduct inspections of residential/commercial waste and recycling set-outs and write fines if the set-outs are done improperly. This also includes dumpsters.

This would be contingent on review of the proposal by the Department of Streets to see if this could be done.

Our most current data is for 2017. The following includes both residential and commercial:

• 649,409 tons landfilled
• 512,533 tons incinerated
• 1,147,145 tons single stream and C&D recycled
• 27,253 additional tons recycled (food waste, yard waste, electronics, textiles, etc.)

Any sector is permissible as long as the pilot supports the overall objectives outlined in the call for solutions. Applicants are encouraged to specify in their proposals the relevant sector(s) targeted by their solution.

The Solid Waste and Recycling Advisory Committee has not issued any recommendations specific to this challenge. Learn more about the committee’s work.