Philadelphia Sustainability Director Elizabeth Lankenau Resigns
Lankenau's departure comes as the city weighs renewing its waste-to-energy contract with Reworld, a Chester incinerator.
Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in People
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Elizabeth Lankenau has resigned as director of Philadelphia's Office of Sustainability, a post she held since 2023. The Parker administration is searching for a replacement, and Christopher Puchalsky has absorbed her duties on an interim basis.
Why it matters
The Office of Sustainability oversees environmental justice, climate response and the shift to clean energy, so leadership changes can affect how those programs move forward. The departure also arrives during a contested debate over whether the city should renew its incineration contract.
Roughly one-third of the city's waste goes to Reworld under the current arrangement, which the administration cannot extend for multiple years without City Council approval. The replacement timeline and the outcome of the contract debate remain unresolved.
The players
Elizabeth Lankenau
Lankenau led Philadelphia's Office of Sustainability and publicly argued in July that the health and environmental trade-offs between trash incineration and landfilling remain unsettled.
Christopher Puchalsky
Puchalsky directs the city's Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems and has taken on the sustainability office's duties on an interim basis.
Jamie Gauthier
Gauthier is a Philadelphia City Council member who chairs the Committee on the Environment and has been a vocal critic of incineration.
Reworld
Reworld operates a waste-to-energy facility in Chester that receives about a third of Philadelphia's trash under the city's current contract.
The details
Lankenau left her role in city government, and the administration has not yet named a successor. Puchalsky, director of the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems, is handling the Office of Sustainability's duties in the interim while the search continues.
Timeline
2023: Lankenau begins serving as director of the Office of Sustainability.
July: Lankenau says there is no clear consensus on the relative health and environmental impacts of incineration versus landfilling.
November 5, 2026: Lankenau's resignation is reported.
November 18: A City Council Environment Committee hearing on the Reworld contract renewal is scheduled.
Market Landscape
The departure lands amid a standoff between the administration's drafted renewal of the Reworld contract and Councilmember Mark Squilla's separate zero-waste bill favoring composting and organic waste breakdown. Which direction the city takes will shape its long-term waste-handling options.
Philadelphia residents' trash handling could change depending on whether the city renews the Reworld incineration contract or moves toward the zero-waste plan. Leadership changes at the sustainability office may affect the pace of those decisions.
The takeaway
Leadership turnover in city sustainability offices can shape long-running decisions about waste and emissions. Residents who want to track the outcome can follow the November 18 Council hearing on the Reworld contract.
What happens next
A City Council Environment Committee hearing on the Reworld contract renewal legislation is scheduled for November 18.
Further reading
For more on leadership moves in the city's economy, see People coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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