TOXIC FREE PHILLY
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  • What you can do
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  • HOPS Documents
  • Home
  • Why Toxic Free?
  • What you can do
  • Organic Lands
  • Updates
  • Contact
  • HOPS Documents
Philly status: as of January 28th, 2021, Healthy Outdoor Public Spaces (HOPS) has officially been enacted into law.
However, the Parker Administration has so far refused to enforce on grounds overseen by Parks and Rec, shirking their duty to follow the law and protect public health. On June 10, 2025, Philadelphia City Council Joint Committees on Labor and Parks and Recreation held hearings on the non-enforcement of HOPS.
THE FUTURE IS ORGANIC.
Update: $78M Verdict in Philly's 6th RoundUp Trial
Press: Philadelphia City Council urges Parks and Rec to stop using chemical herbicides
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Explore the map of Herbicide Applications on city grounds, 2021-2023

Has your neighborhood been sprayed? Find out with our interactive map of what was sprayed where.
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Watch the Hearings

Extended testimony and investigation of continued spraying in Philly public lands almost 5 years after the passage of HOPS.
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Download the HOPS report Card

Philly's progress towards joining a nationwide toxic-free movement
What YOU can do: Mayor Parker, enforce HOPS now
A provision in the HOPS bill requires Philadelphia Parks and Rec and all other government divisions that apply pesticides to public spaces to start keeping records of pesticide applications, which they were not doing previously to the passage of HOPS.  The report was not made public, so TFP submitted a Right to Know request, which was approved.
​The report showed that the City sprayed its own public lands with 16.2 tons of toxic herbicides in 
2022 alone, 15.64 tons in 2023, and almost 14 tons in 2024.
Download TFP Analysis of PPR 2024 Herbicide Report
Download TFP analysis of PPR 2023 Herbicide report
Download TFP analysis of 2022 PPR herbicide reports
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The total amount of glyphosate-based products  used in Philly public spaces: 2024: 5.31* tons
2023: 5.45 tons
2022: 2.3 tons

*secondary application amounts not reported
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The total amount of 2,4-D (one of the active ingredients in Agent Orange) used on Philly public grounds in 2023: 2.73 tons
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Ballfields and playgrounds sprayed:   349,043.6 sq/ft, or over 6 football fields in 2024 alone
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​NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS to serve on HOPS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Are you an expert in Organic Land Management, the occupational hazards of pesticide use, and/or environmental justice? Serve on the Public Health Department's inaugural HOPS Committee to enforce one of the most progressive pesticide laws in the country.  Read more


Philadelphia will join over 100 US cities, including NYC, in severely restricting the use of toxic herbicides on all City grounds, including parks, right of ways, playgrounds, and recreation centers.

In Philadelphia, at least 18 toxic herbicides are applied to
​public grounds, including glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Roundup, and 2,4-D, one of the two active ingredients in Agent Orange. This is unacceptable, and completely unnecessary, 
given the wealth of cost-effective non-toxic solutions that are available.

Protect city employees: Our public employees and sub contractors also have the right to a safe work environment and shouldn’t be exposed to synthetic toxic pesticides. In the last two years, over $2 billion has been awarded against pesticide manufacturers for causing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma to people who applied synthetic pesticides.
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New information: Every week new information is added to the already significant evidence that exposure to synthetic pesticides is linked to asthma, cancer, developmental and learning disabilities, nerve and immune system damage, liver and kidney damage, reproductive impairment, birth defects, and disruption of the endocrine system.
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Children are the most vulnerable: Infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems and chemical sensitivities are especially vulnerable.




Our mission and vision

FINAL HOPS Bill
POISON PARKS: The Black Institute
MAP of US Pesticide Reform Policies
Toxic Free Philly is a growing coalition of concerned Philadelphia residents, visitors, neighbors, and organizations. We advocate for all Philadelphia public grounds to be safe, healthy, and thriving habitats for residents and wildlife alike. Our approach is to bring together public health experts, community leaders, business interests, the urban agriculture community, lawyers and local government to work to protect public health and restore environmental quality.
Our short term goals include an ordinance severely restricting the use of harmful, synthetic herbicides, particularly glyphosate and 2,4-D, on city grounds. We are currently arranging a collaboration around a pilot park program that will transition two public parks to organic management protocols.
Our long term goal is to pass robust legislation in Philadelphia severely restricting the application of all harmful, synthetic pesticides on city grounds, including toxic insecticides, fungicides, and rodenticides, and replacing the toxic paradigm with organic land management protocols.  

"THE EVIDENCE IS OVERWHELMING"

Why we are concerned, and why you should be, too.
Are pesticides really so bad?
In partnership with: 

PHILADELPHIA
One Art Community Center
bioPhilly

City Parks Association
​District 1199c Training Fund
​Friends of Fernhill Park
Friends of Manatawna Farm

Friends of Vernon Park
​Northwest Philly Climate Action Network

​Our City, Our Schools Coalition
​PhilaPOSH

​Soil Generation
Temple Environmental Law Society
Toxic Free Philly Drexel University
Weaver's Way Co-op

STATE/REGIONAL
The Black Institute
Clean Air Council
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Clean Water Action
​Delaware Riverkeeper Network

PennEnvironment
PennFuture
PennPIRG
NATIONAL
​Beyond Pesticides
​Humane Society of the United States
​Non-Toxic Communities
Physicians for Social Responsibility
​Rodale Institute
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Photo from Verde River