Nesting House. Hilltop Books. Weavers Way Co-op.

These are just a few of the Chestnut Hill businesses and organizations where residents can shop sustainably, either by purchasing recycled items or donating waste to be repurposed.

A new search engine called resourcePhilly.org features all the above and more. Launched in late June, the website includes an interactive map of businesses in Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill, and other Philadelphia neighborhoods, where residents can donate, reuse, or buy sustainable items. The tool helps customers to access information about reusing and recycling materials commonly discarded in landfills, and may just play a small part in reducing the city’s annual

“That’s the goal, to take perfectly usable materials and have it stay in the local circular economy, instead of just going to landfills and incinerators,” said Karyn Gerred, founder and executive director of The Resource Exchange, based in Olde Kensington, partnered with economic development organization to launch the tool on June 26.

So much stuff

The seed for was planted in 2008, Gerred said. She compiled a sustainable practices guide and noticed a few trends during her research for the project which was associated with the Greater Philadelphia Film Office.

“One is that there was an awful lot of overlap with sustainability questions and information that would be helpful for anyone in Philadelphia, not just people in that industry,” Gerred said. “And also, there were a lot of recommendations that I was giving that were difficult to follow because of the gaps in this city’s material recovery capacity.”

Gerred witnessed the amount of waste generated from film and theater productions while working as a scenic painter. She founded The Resource Exchange in 2009 to recycle and reuse materials from the industry.

“Most people don’t realize that when you go to see a play or when you watch a film or a TV show, just the sheer amount of resources that go into those productions … that are short term productions but often have long term environmental consequences,” she said.

The center has grown from a volunteer organization to a nonprofit with a warehouse, store, and art gallery. It also accepts materials from all over the Philadelphia region, Gerred said.

On its website, The Resource Exchange has posted a list of places where residents can donate or buy hard-to-recycle materials, information that is also available at the group’s headquarters. The staff continuously updates the map with information gathered from research, phone calls, and knocking on doors.

“It just organically grew out of the public interaction of donors and customers coming in and either donating, trying to donate stuff that we didn’t accept, or trying to source materials that we didn’t have,” Gerred said. “They wanted to broaden their understanding of other places they could go. So, we just wanted to be able to provide that information.”

Gerred and her staff members always wanted the tool go online. In 2024, Circular Philadelphia received a grant from the Green Family Foundation to partner with The Resource Exchange to compile the database, and the organizations hired software company Urality to create the site.

The updated version includes an online search engine with a broader database, an interactive map, and various articles on sustainability, from how to reduce packaging waste to how to recycle electronics.

Users can search the map by selecting a material (glass, paper, etc…) or a category, such as books, clothing, appliances, and restaurants. Then, they can choose to buy, sell, rent, borrow, donate, recycle, dispose, repair and compost their item, as well as select the condition of the item and check if there’s delivery or pickup available.

The website features a prioritization tool, in which it will show users the most ecofriendly results first before displaying where to throw away items, Gerred said.

“I think a lot of people want to do the right thing, and want to not discard their materials. And we’re just sort of helping them cut to the chase and figure out how to navigate through what is often a complex environment,” she said.

Spreading the word

Among the businesses featured on the map is a refill and sustainable goods store in Mt. Airy that uses compostable packing, zero single-use plastics and other ecofriendly practices.

Owner Susan Barry said she plans to use resourcePhilly and present it to her customers, who share her interest in sustainable shopping.

“That’s one of the reasons I decided to open [the store]. Because I was shopping at low-waste stores in other parts of Philly, and I thought my neighbors would like to have some options here,” she said.

Amy Wilson, executive director of said she’s thrilled to see Hilltop Books in Chestnut Hill on resourcePhilly. All the shop’s books and games are donated by community members and proceeds go to the Library.

“Local used bookstores offer a wonderful way to find books your friends and neighbors have enjoyed and to share your favorite reads with others. As a shop that exists to support our library branch, we’d be remiss not to point out that our libraries are the ultimate book sharing locations and they are in every neighborhood,” Wilson said in an email. “This is a welcome tool, and as the recent strike highlighted, Philly is a long way from being a zero or low-waste city.”

Northwest businesses on the The Resource Exchange map also include Nesting House in Mt. Airy, Weavers Way Co-op in Mt. Airy, Roxborough Shoe and Luggage Repair, Bargain Thrift in Germantown and Rutabaga Toy Library in East Falls.

Abby Weiss is an environmental reporter for the Local and a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at abby@chestnuthilllocal.com.