Philadelphia plans to award a new four-year contract to Reworld incinerator
Despite heavy lobbying by Energy Justice Network, Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living and other environmental groups to ban trash burning at the Reworld Incinerator in Chester, the City of Philadelphia will seek another four-year contract with the country’s largest incinerator.
Several local news organizations reported that Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration issued a notice Friday July 10 that it intends to enter a new four-year contract for waste processing and disposal with Reworld where the city sends a third of its trash.
The notice comes on the heels of the Delaware County environmental groups’ efforts to convince Philadelphia City Council to enact a ban on the city’s use of the Reworld trash-to-steam incinerator due to the air pollution, noise and traffic through Chester created by the plant.
Energy Justice Network Executive Director Mike Ewall wrote the Stop Trashing Our Air Act in 2021 as an advisor to the then City Council Environment Committee chair. The bill would have banned Philadelphia from entering into contracts to burn its trash, recyclables or compostables. The city’s solid waste contracts expired June 30 and new contracts are being solicited.
The bill was introduced by current Environment Committee Chair, Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, in September 2025 and was voted out of her committee in a strong 5-1 vote last November after a lengthy and packed hearing.
However, it was never brought up for a vote when it became clear that Gauthier did not have the votes to pass the bill in the 17-member Council. At the hearing, one councilman pointed out that while Philadelphia was being asked to stop using Reworld, Delaware County’s Solid Waste Authority continued to use it to burn most of the county’s trash.
The county is currently considering a 10-year “zero waste” solid waste plan that calls for using its landfill in Berks County instead of Reworld and investing more in recycling and composting. That plan has not been put into place and while the landfill has been substantially enlarged, it may not be feasible to completely abandon Reworld.
Reworld waged a lobbying effort to counter the Philadelphia bill, including a full-page advertisement in the Philadelphia Inquirer, touting its air pollution control efforts, which it argues meets or exceeds U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards.
CRCQL’s lobbying strategies included calling council members and staging a “die-in” at Mayor Parker’s home. The organizations argue that Philadelphia does not take into consideration the health effects on Chester’s citizens from Reworld’s operations, including higher than average rates of various cancers and childhood asthma. The Pennsylvania department of Environmental Protection rates Chester an environmental justice area that already carries a heavy air pollution load.
Philadelphia officials said that for the first time, they and outside experts weighed the environmental impacts of the waste disposal bids and concluded that incineration and landfilling are “essentially equal” in terms of sustainability, climate resilience and greenhouse gas emissions.
Health Commissioner Palak Raval-Nelson said that because of logistical constraints and the complexities of the waste management landscape in southeastern Pennsylvania, using a combination of waste disposal methods is a very reasonable approach.
PHOTO/Reworld incinerator, Clearinghouse Photo
