The event, designed to unite the community in a wide-ranging effort to clean and beautify the city, serves as the largest single-day cleanup effort in the city.

Philadelphia.– On Saturday, April 5, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives announced the return of the Philly Spring Cleanup (PSC), now in its 18th year. The event serves as the largest single-day cleanup effort in the city.

The Philly Spring Cleanup is a commitment to vibrant and livable neighborhoods, to create partnerships with community organizations that help make our neighborhoods healthier and sustainable. This year’s event emphasized greening public spaces along with cleaning. Two signature projects were highlighted as part of the day:

• 27th and Dauphin Streets, where volunteers engaged in beautification efforts such as tree planting, fence painting, raised garden bed restoration, and pollinator garden creation at two LandCare lots in Strawberry Mansion.
• Tacony Creek Park at Adams Avenue and Newtown Avenue, where a major illegal tire dumping removal effort took place featuring collaboration between City departments, community groups, and volunteers.

“Over the past year, our Office of Clean and Green Initiatives has launched the One Philly, United Citywide Cleaning and Greening Program with over a dozen city departments, nonprofits, and community groups,” said Mayor Cherelle L. Parker. “In the spirit of our ‘One Philly’ initiative, the Philly Spring Cleanup represents a united front of city agencies, businesses, and the community, working together to promote environmental sustainability and combat trash and illegal dumping across Philadelphia.»
The PSC is a culmination of thousands of Philadelphians working together to clean major sections of our city; to raise awareness about litter prevention; to instill neighborhood pride and civic responsibility in residents to keep our city clean every day.
 
“As we count down to America250, keeping our city beautiful is more than a task—it’s a celebration of our identity, our history, and our future,” said Carlton Williams, Director, Office of Clean and Green Initiatives. «The PSC is Philadelphia’s catalyst for the Great American Cleanup led by Keep America Beautiful and Philly250. As Philadelphia prepares to take center stage for the America250 celebration, our city has an incredible opportunity to showcase its beauty, resilience, and civic pride. We encourage all Philadelphia to join the challenge to pick up 250 billion pieces of litter by July 4, 2026. Visit kab.org/greatest-american-cleanup/ to take the pledge to be part of the largest cleanup effort in history, just in time for America’s 250th Birthday. Let’s emphasize the power of unity and community spirit through cleaning and greening our city.”
 
Other key efforts include litter, debris and trash removal managed by the Office of Clean and Green, tire, brush and weed removal by Philadelphia Department of Sanitation crews, asphalt repairs led by the Philadelphia Streets Department, nuisance property remediation by the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections, Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP) performed graffiti removal, abandoned auto removal under the guidance of the Philadelphia Police Department and the Philadelphia Parking Authority, greening of public spaces by Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and Mural Arts oversaw artwork at Richard R. Wright Elementary School.

Since its inception in 2008, the PSC has mobilized over 300,000 volunteers who have removed more than 12 million pounds of trash and 950,000 pounds of tires from nearly 8,000 project sites across Philadelphia. Volunteers engage in various tasks, including litter and trash removal, cleaning and greening vacant lots, fence painting, tree planting, mulching, pruning, and the creation of a pollinator garden, which will involve mulching, weeding, and perimeter maintenance.