The purpose of the Upper Darby Environmental Advisory Committee is to advise township leadership on environmental matters.

This committee is made up of Upper Darby residents with environmental knowledge and a strong desire to conserve and protect our local natural resources. The purpose of this committee is to encourage government policies and community practices that impact the environment.

The Environmental Advisory Committee holds many different environmentally focused events for the residents of Upper Darby.

To learn more about EAC events go to https://www.facebook.com/UDEAC

To inquire about vacancies on the Environmental Advisory Committee contact mayor@upperdarby.org

Members: 

Bonnie Hallam - Chair

Charmaine Butler - Member
Christen Cooper - Member
Sharon Elwell - Member
Norman Janes - Member
Peggy Kowalski - Member
Stephen Lockard - Member
Jeff Million - Member

The UD Environmental Advisory Committee understands that we cannot just protect our natural environment without protecting our economic and cultural environments.  We are an interconnected system and what impacts one thing, impacts another.  We call this sustainability and recognize that as we make decisions in Upper Darby Township on all aspects of governance, whether writing permits, providing services including such things as trash, policing, fire protection, etc., purchasing products, selecting vendors, providing programs, spending our tax dollars, and so much more, we are impacting our natural, economic and cultural environments all at the same time.  

• reducing food wastes through backyard and fee for service composting - getting food waste out of the trash and making it useful and trash less costly!  Check out the Media Borough and Haverford Township Programs!

• reducing trash by keeping yard waste out of it!  Upper Darby now collects leaves and yard waste with recycling!  See the Schedule and instructions on what you can recycle here. (Hint:  Don't put your yard waste in plastic bags!  Use large paper bags or just put it in the can!) For more tips check out ideas from Republic Services.

• reducing our consumption and therefore our need to throw things "away" and reusing products.  Check out local thrift stores, consignment shops and area reuse shopping at places like Habitat for Humanity's ReStore

• reducing our use of single use plastics.  Check out Narberth's ordinance on plastic bags, straws and other single use plastics.

• recycling appropriately including NOT putting plastic bags in your recycling (Hint:  Take them back to any supermarket!) or putting your recycling in plastic bags (Hint:  Just put your recyclable items in the bin!) and keeping greasy pizza boxes out of the recycling (Hint: Tear off the greasy part, put it in the trash and put the clean part in the recycling!)  By switching to Republic Services, the township recently lowered our recycling costs about 30%.  That saves your tax dollars to be used for other things like better parks and services!  Do your part by recycling correctly!

You can see our Zero Waste recommendations to the Upper Darby Township Administration here.  As residents, we can all work towards these Zero Waste efforts together!

Conservation:  Conservation means to use less of something, so it is related to Zero Waste...but instead of focusing on solid waste, we focus on energy, water and land conservation and use.  Using less energy, using renewable energy, conserving open space, ensuring Darby Creek is clean and does not flood our communities, etc. and supporting policies in our township that help us do that, is another way that we all can work together to make Upper Darby cleaner, greener and more beautiful.  Our township is moving the needle on this in the right direction by 

• promoting solar energy.  Upper Darby is currently installing solar panels on the Municipal Building and the Watkins Center.  You can see other places in UD using solar as a clean, renewable energy source here. If you are interested in getting residential solar, there are many companies in the area you can check out or contact the Solarize Delco group for information. Two of our EAC members have or will have solar installations so you can ask them about it too.

• promoting clean and renewable energy by having our Community Center, now in development, the first LEED certified municipal building in Upper Darby! 

• conserving green spaces and improving trails and parks.  If you don't know about Upper Darby Parks and trails, we encourage you to put on your walking shoes and feel like you walked out of this world!  Check out Gillespie Park where the Tree Tenders of Upper Darby, the Shade Tree Commission, the UD EAC, the Eastern Delaware County Stormwater Collaborative, Delaware Riverkeeper Network and the Upper Darby Township Parks and Facilities Departments, through a TreeVitalize Riparian Restoration grant, recently planted over 300 trees and 100 shrubs to protect our residents from flooding and to provide a safe, beautiful and peaceful place for us to enjoy. 

Gillespie Park in the Fall

The UD EAC encourages residents in Upper Darby to partner with the Township in efforts such as those mentioned above and others. The UD EAC has members who sit on the Delco Solid Waste Management 10 year Plan Advisory Committee, the Darby-Cobbs Watershed Resiliency Program, the Tree Tenders of Upper Darby, Friends of UD Rain Gardens and Friends of Upper Darby Trails.  You can volunteer to be part of any of these efforts.  Learning about why and how to conserve energy  in your household with this video is an important first step. Save money and save energy and the environment! See recommendations from the new Delco Sustainability Hub.  

Beautification:  A beautiful community means a lot of things.  Clean streets, curb appeal for homes, maintaining commercial and residential property, green and open space, trees and other features that make us feel good, are healthy for us and build community.  An example of this the work of the Bywood Community Association which recently received a $50,000 grant to beautify their community through the PA Department of Community and Economic Development.  To increase their efforts, they recently partnered with the Montdelco Habitat for Humanity in a Rock the Block in Bywood where they planted trees and a community garden.  They have developed a comprehensive plan to Keep Bywood Beautiful by creating a corps of neighbors taking care of each other and their neighborhood.  This is a model for other communities in Upper Darby and we encourage community members in other communities to follow this example....just the way Stonehurst did recently in creating the Stonehurst Community Association!  There are other community associations in Upper Darby that you can find out about here as well as a guide to starting a neighborhood organization.