Tails from the trail and tips on training your human

Our neighborhoods are an essential part of our life within our communities, from the parks and streets to the residential and commercial areas. Keeping them clean is one way of preserving the very neighborhoods where we spend a significant part of our lives – and community-wide clean-ups are one way to do just that.

One of the most basic ways to organize a community-wide cleaning spree is through a “Trash Clean-up” event. Not only is it an incredible way to support your community, but it is also a sustainable step to preserve the local ecosystem to the best of your abilities.
Here’s how organizing a community clean-up goes a long way to ensure future generations can reap the same fruits from earth as we are able to today.

It Instills a Sense of Responsibility

Today, it may be a single individual polluting the environment, but it will be an entire community in the future. By organizing a community clean-up event, you will be able to instill a sense of responsibility among children and adults alike.

It Keeps the Community Disease-Free

Litter is not just an eyesore. It has the potential to disrupt your neighborhood’s ecosystem and attract rodents and insects that carry diseases. Touching, smelling, or even breathing around such harmful elements can cause an outbreak to affect the entire community and the wider population.

People Learn By Mimicking

Again, today it may be a single community, but tomorrow it will be many more mimicking the actions. Let’s face it; there’s too much litter and not many resources to deal with it. Even if one individual learns to pick up after themselves, it will inspire the wider community, towns, cities, and even countries to do the same.

It Teaches People the Right Way to Dispose Of Trash

Community clean-ups are a great way to educate oneself about the importance of disposing of trash right. Understanding the difference between “dry” and “wet,” “recyclable,” and “non-recyclable” trash is crucial to ensure that landfills aren’t filled to an overwhelming extent.
Additionally, it’s important to understand how you may be contributing to water pollution without even trying. For instance, pet waste floating into the local storm drains is a major source of pollution in the rivers, lakes, and streams.

What Supplies Do You Need to Organize a Community Clean-up?

There’s a common misconception that you need to have significant funds to afford supplies for community clean-ups. However, that’s far from the truth. All you need to do is get in touch with your public works department to help you find borrowed or rented supplies. Here are all the essentials you need:

Trash bags
Recycling bags
Masks
Gloves
Pickers

How to Organize a Successful Community Clean-up?

Decide a Place and Time

The first step is to agree on a meeting point and time. Following this, you must set the perimeters for people to pick trash up from certain locations. Once done, you will have to determine a spot to gather everyone and collect the trash collected.

Decide Where to Dump the Trash

Remember, the point of picking up trash is to ensure your community is clean, safe, and disease-free. If you end up dumping all of it in a way that overflows public trash cans, you will do more harm than good. Hence, you need to decide proper disposal methods for the trash you collect.

Don’t Over-Provide

A community clean-up should never be advertised as an event as it creates false expectations among individuals. They may show up in hopes of having fun or socializing. Therefore, make sure to be responsible when getting the word out.

Encourage people to bring reusable materials such as bottles and other supplies. Most importantly, if you are providing the volunteers with snacks, encourage them to dispose of the waste responsibly. Picking up trash only to dump more later negates the point of a community clean-up.

Ensure Proper Separation

While most people are already aware of separating trash from recycling, it’s important to brief everyone regardless. This is because there’s always a chance that not everyone will know how to go about it.

Furthermore, you can assist the process by providing the volunteers with different colored bags to avoid confusion. At the same time, educate them on social distancing rules as you wouldn’t want your event to be a hotbed for the spread of COVID-19.
Get the Word Out Responsibly

Remember, you need like-minded individuals to be able to pull off the clean-up successfully. Make sure to steer clear of those who do not seem serious enough to go ahead with it. However, on the other hand, it’s also important to gather as many interested individuals as possible – the bigger the group, the greater the impact.

Post on social media, hand out flyers, partner with relevant organizations, and you’ll be halfway through the process of organizing a great clean-up.

Designate Individuals For Different Duties

While the point is to gather maximum volunteers to pick up trash, it’s also important to designate some people for other duties. For instance, you must have at least one volunteer at the meeting point to ensure a smooth influx of people at the venue. You must also designate at least one volunteer for distributing supplies and providing participants with necessary essentials such as sanitizers, water bottles (if required), sunscreen, etc.

The Bottom Line

In the end, organizing a community clean-up is a great way to instill a sense of responsibility among its residents. However, it also requires careful planning and execution to get the most out of it. The ecosystem relies on you as much as you rely on it, and learning to pick up after yourself is only one out of many ways to ensure that you’re able to preserve it for the longest possible time.

Eventually, it all comes down to adopting sustainable practices and taking something valuable from a community clean-up experience. While it is admirable if you’re able to convince many people to carry rubber gloves and trash bags around, remember that the underlying purpose is to ensure that your project has the greatest possible impact. Ultimately, the goal is to preserve the beauty of the planet we call home and let our children lead the best and the healthiest life possible.

by Bobby J Davidson

We are in business to provide great products for the outdoorsy hikers, campers and their dogs; and to help clean our parks, rivers and oceans for a better planet earth for hikers and their dogs.

Parks Clean

Parks are high-traffic areas in most cities. This means that trash is bound to show up in and around your park and playground.

When discussing ways your family can help clean your local park, don’t overlook a literal cleanup! Picking up trash will make a huge difference in the appearance and vibe of your park. A clean area will encourage others to keep the park pristine. When picking up trash and debris, make sure to wear gloves to protect yourself, and put trash in appropriate receptacles or lawn bags. You can also contact your local trash company to schedule a pickup when you are finished.

Rivers Clean

The storm drain on your street collects the water from your roof, driveway, and sidewalk and funnels it directly in your local lake or river. Nutrients from grass and leaves, pet waste, and fertilizers “enrich” our lakes and streams — feeding algae blooms and harming fish. Chemicals from washing your car in the drive and household chemical spills add up, taking a nasty toll on our favorite swimming areas and fishing spots. Soil can also be picked up by runoff, reducing the clarity of water and hurting fish.

So as you prepare your lawn and garden, here are a few helpful tips to keep our lakes and rivers beautiful and safe for all of us.

Use mulch and vegetation to keep soil from washing away.
Sweep or rake grass and leaves away from street curbs.
Mulch and compost grass clippings and leaves.
Keep paved surfaces to a minimum.
Capture water runoff with a rain garden and rain barrels.
Wash your car on the grass, where the water will get filtered.
Keep chemicals away from storm drains.
Collect your pet’s waste.
Aim your rain-gutter downspouts onto grass.

Beaches Clean (do it for the ocean)

In 2007, the United States Senate and House of Representatives passed the National Clean Beaches Week Resolution to recognize the value of beaches to the American way of life and the important contributions of beaches to the economy, recreation, and natural environment of the United States.

Clean Beaches Week, celebrated annually July 1-7, offers the perfect opportunity to encourage stewardship and volunteerism along our coastlines. But where do you even begin? Follow these tips to get started.

Identify a clean-up site. Choose a place that needs some TLC, making sure that volunteers can safely access the site. Get permission, if needed, for your clean-up event, perhaps from the local parks agency.
Choose a site coordinator. (That might be you!) A beach clean-up takes a lot of work and needs an organized person to keep everything on track before, during, and after the event.
Visit the site in advance. The coordinator will need to know where to set up a volunteer check-in station, where to leave trash and recyclables, and what area(s) volunteers will clean.
Gather supplies. Depending on your location, you’ll need supplies such as trash bags, a first aid kit, hand sanitizer, wipes, and large coolers of water. You should also provide (or ask volunteers to bring) items such as reusable work/garden gloves, reusable water bottles, sunscreen, and bug spray.
Plan how to handle the recyclables. Reach out to recyclers in your area (and perhaps your community’s solid waste departments) to make arrangements for accepting any glass, plastic, and aluminum that you collect.
Line up event partners. Contact local businesses for donations of drinks, food, and supplies. Ask a local solid waste hauler to donate their services for trash removal.
Plan for handling hazardous waste. Determine how you’ll dispose of any medical and sewage waste you might find. One solution: A wide-mouth container with a tight-fitting lid, such as an empty laundry detergent bottle. Clearly label that it contains hazardous waste.
Get volunteers to help. Recruit friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors. Create an event on Facebook and ask volunteers to sign up online. This will give you an idea of how many people to expect and will help communicate event details.
Stay safe. Be prepared for a variety of health emergencies, from minor cuts and scrapes to heat stroke.
Take photos! Post pics online to share the success of your event and recognize volunteers for their hard work.