A bag of litter can become part of a friendly city rivalry this month. Block by Block Philly has joined Chicago's Cleanup Club Chicago and Los Angeles' South Central Cleanup for the 2026 Clean-Off, a volunteer challenge running Oct. 1 through Oct. 31. The organizers invite residents to pick up trash in public spaces, record what they collect and add their effort to a city tally. Los Angeles joined this year after the first Philly-Chicago edition in 2025.
Philadelphia's volunteer calendar gives the monthlong contest a neighborhood scale. It currently lists a South Philly cleanup at Wharton Square Park on Tuesday, Oct. 6, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., at 2300 Wharton Street. Block by Block says tools, safety vests and gloves will be available; its volunteer information also says it provides water and guidance. The listing is a scheduled event, not a report that it has already taken place.
At the time this story was prepared, the Clean-Off page's weekly scoreboard showed 103 bags for Philadelphia, 134 for Chicago and 118 for Los Angeles: 355 bags, about 1.3 tons, and 227 volunteers across all three cities. Those are campaign-wide totals as displayed by the organizer. The page does not break them down by cleanup date, so they cannot be attributed to any particular event on Philadelphia's calendar.
The format is easy to understand. Volunteers can join a scheduled group or clean a public area on their own within Philadelphia, Chicago or Los Angeles. They count full bags, note the bag sizes and submit a photo through the campaign form. The photo requirement gives the organizers a way to review submissions, and the group-lead rule is meant to prevent a group's totals from being entered more than once. The rules exclude city employees and contractors who would collect trash while on the clock. Anyone can take part; the challenge is open beyond formal nonprofit or city crews.
The three-city contest builds on a close finish last year. Block by Block Philly's campaign page says Philadelphia collected 923 bags in 2025 and Chicago collected 927, a four-bag margin. The page also reports that participants across both cities removed seven tons of litter, with more than 1,000 people taking part. KYW Newsradio independently reported the same narrow result and quoted co-founder Amanda Block describing the four-bag loss. Those figures belong to last year's contest; they are not early results for 2026.
KYW Newsradio spoke with co-founder Amanda Block about the reason for making neighborhood cleanup a competition. She said the group hopes participation will help people take pride in their shared spaces. That is the organizer's explanation of the project's aim, not a measured long-term outcome. KYW also reported that the winning city receives no prize; the contest is built around the cleanup work and the friendly comparison between places.
A competition can make a familiar chore feel like a shared event. The organizers also encourage residents to start a cleanup with friends, family or coworkers, extending the effort beyond scheduled events. The practical appeal is that residents can choose a nearby public place, work alongside neighbors, and document what they did. Block by Block Philly describes its work as a volunteer effort and says it supplies safety gear and tools at organized events. The story is accessible participation, not a claim that one weekend changed citywide litter levels. The campaign accepts individual submissions throughout the month, so the schedule does not define who can help or when.
The campaign runs through Oct. 31, and the online form accepts eligible individual cleanups throughout the month. Philadelphia readers can check Block by Block's calendar for upcoming group dates, or choose another public area in the city and submit a photo and bag count. The organizer says individuals can submit multiple times; group totals should be entered by a lead so the same bags are not counted twice. The current scoreboard offers a shared snapshot across the three cities, while the hands-on work still happens one block, park or street corner at a time.
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