Bill Inspired By Walt Disney Aims To Reduce Litter On Philadelphia Streets, Sidewalks
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Corner stores in Philadelphia will soon be required to put trash and recycling bins out front, thanks to City Council...and Walt Disney.
When Walt Disney was building Disneyland, he determined that if the trash cans were more than 30 steps apart, people would simply litter. So Disney's trash cans had to be closer together.
Now, Philadelphia City Council has approved a plan modeled on that idea: any store, large or small, that sells any type of food must have a trash can within ten feet of the entrance.
The sponsor was Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown:
"Restaurants in particular, corner stores especially, will now be required to have some type of trash receptacle and a recycling bin outside of their establishment. Because if we accept the Disneyland theory, when citizens do not have a receptacle within thirty steps of leaving the store, it ends up on the corner. So (this) is a small step toward trying to clean up our city beyond the boundaries of the Center City District."
Council also approved a related bill from Reynolds Brown that forces landlords to supply trash and recycling bins inside an apartment building, so tenants don't have to store trash in their unit all week.
"So now landlords (at buildings with) ten or more apartments have to make sure there's a trash receptacle on the premises," says Brown.
Both measures now go to the mayor, whose signature is expected. Once the bills take effect, violators of the store trash can measure would face fines up to $100, and violators of the landlord bill would face fines up to $150.
