High Yield Clean-Up: 300,000 Pounds Out of Pennypack Creek

In late March, United By Blue and GreenFi, a climate-friendly personal finance company, joined the City of Philadelphia to clear an illegal dumpsite inside Pennypack Park in Northeast Philadelphia. The cleanup removed more than 300,000 pounds of trash and construction debris from a site that had been dumped on for years, reopening a drainage channel that feeds Pennypack Creek.

The site sits off Frankford and Holmesburg Avenues, on Philadelphia Parks & Recreation land within one of the city's largest stream-valley parks. The debris ranged from construction and demolition material to furniture, appliances, and tires, with vehicles parked illegally on the property. Clearing it required heavy equipment and a coalition of public and private partners, not a volunteer crew with bags.

A dumpsite, not a litter problem

The waste had accumulated over years rather than in a single event. Much of it was heavy, partly buried, and sitting in the channel that drains toward the creek. The site was accessible by vehicle and went unmonitored, which allowed loads of waste to be left repeatedly. The Department of Licenses & Inspections also had to remove vehicles parked illegally on the property, a recurring problem at the location.

When the City announced the project, officials described it as a historic dumpsite that had long posed risks to the surrounding community. A standard volunteer cleanup, suited to shoreline litter, could not handle debris at this scale or weight.

Why this creek matters

Pennypack Creek drains a watershed of about 56 square miles across Montgomery, Philadelphia, and Bucks counties, holding roughly 125 miles of streams and home to around 230,000 residents. About a third of that land is covered by impervious surfaces such as roads and rooftops, which sends stormwater quickly into the creek. The creek empties into the Delaware River.

The Delaware is part of the city's water supply. The Delaware and Schuylkill rivers are Philadelphia's two drinking-water sources, feeding a system that treats more than 300 million gallons a day. The Baxter plant in Torresdale draws from the Delaware and serves about 58% of the city, in the same stretch of river where Pennypack enters. Debris in the creek's drainage moves toward that supply.

The EPA notes that trash enters waterways as a result of illegal dumping in or near waterways, where it degrades water quality and aquatic habitat. In a streambed, construction debris also blocks flow and traps sediment, which raises flood risk during heavy rain. Removing it restores the channel's capacity to carry water.

What a high-yield cleanup takes

A high-yield cleanup uses contractors and equipment to remove large volumes of waste, rather than relying on volunteer labor. United By Blue's cleanups are usually volunteer-led, organized along shorelines and trails. This site called for a different approach, because the volume and weight of the material required excavation and trucked disposal rather than hand collection. Moving 150 tons of debris out of a park required funded crews and coordination across multiple city departments.

According to the City of Philadelphia, the project brought together Parks & Recreation, the Water Department, the Department of Sanitation, the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives, and Licenses & Inspections, with private partners United By Blue and GreenFi. Excavation contractor Geppert Bros removed the buried material, and Sanitation provided trucks to haul and dispose of it. The Office of Clean and Green Initiatives supported outreach for the project.

"Partnerships like this allow us to scale the impact of our mission."

A partnership built for the sites that need it most

High-yield cleanups are expensive and logistically complex, which is why a site like this can sit untouched for years. Private funding made this one possible: GreenFi was a major backer, contributing significant funding alongside United By Blue. The approach pairs private dollars with city agencies to reach sites beyond the scope of volunteer efforts.

Illegal dumping is not evenly distributed across a city. Low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately exposed to environmental harms, and dumping tends to concentrate where enforcement and resources are limited. This part of Northeast Philadelphia had absorbed that burden for years, with public parkland used as a dumping ground. The cleanup returns that space, and a cleaner creek, to the residents who live nearest to it.

Preventing repeat dumping

Removing debris does not, on its own, prevent a site from being used again. After the haul-out, Parks & Recreation installed fencing and "No Dumping" signage, and the partners funded cameras at the access points.

These measures follow established prevention guidance. Waste agencies report that fencing, signage, lighting, and cameras deter repeat dumping, and that maintained sites are less likely to attract it. Parks & Recreation will maintain the cleared site, and the cameras support enforcement by documenting any future dumping. Removing the illegally parked vehicles addressed another recurring use of the property.

Outcome and what's next

United By Blue removes one pound of trash from oceans and waterways for every product sold. The Pennypack project applied that mission at a scale a single cleanup rarely reaches, through funding from GreenFi and coordination across five city departments.

The debris is gone, the drainage channel is clear, and the fencing, signage, and cameras are in place. The City has framed the work as restoring the park site and improving conditions for nearby residents. The remaining work is monitoring the site so it is not used for dumping again.

• See the photos. Our shared album documents the cleanup — browse the full set.
• Join a cleanup. See our other clean-ups and join an upcoming clean-up.
• Chip in. Donate to help fund our cleanup efforts.
• Report illegal dumping. In Philadelphia, call 311 or use the city's app to flag dumping before a site takes hold.
• Remember the watershed. Pennypack Creek drains to the Delaware, a source of the city's drinking water.

Sources

1. "City of Philadelphia and Private Partners Unite to Restore Pennypack Park Site." City of Philadelphia, Department of Sanitation. Published March 24, 2026.
2. "Pennypack Watershed." Philadelphia Water Department. Accessed June 2026.
3. "Drinking Water." Philadelphia Water Department. Accessed June 2026.
4. "Where does Philadelphia's drinking water come from? 3 main treatment plants." The Philadelphia Inquirer. Published March 27, 2023.
5. "Learn About Aquatic Trash." U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed June 2026.
6. "Illegal Dumping: Prevention." California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). Accessed June 2026.
7. "Not in My Backyard: Executive Order 12,898 and Title VI as Tools for Achieving Environmental Justice (Chapter 2)." U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Published 2003.