Planning Your Zero Added Waste Cleanup
Where to begin…
Finding trouble locations in your community is sometimes easier than you think. Locations that see routine illegal dumping or overused and abused campsites and roads. Here’s a helpful checklist on how we recommend you get started.
Assess how much trash and litter is there at the location.
Figure how many people it will take to clean it up?
Figure how long will it take them to clean it up?
Find out who owns the property and do you need permission?
Reach out to local governments, businesses and waste management to get them involved.
Use your social media to raise awareness of the problem and what you are doing about it. Encourage others to join you in this mission. Create an events page or an account dedicated to your mission.
Set a date, time (start & end), meet location and description of work/event.
Purchase or request donation of reusable gloves, barley bags and grabbers for the event. Make an Amazon Wishlist for your mission. People can purchase items you need on your behalf. Which is then shipped directly to you. You can usually get the barley bags for free from local beer breweries. They usually just throw them away after use. Many are happy to give you all you ever need.
On the day of the event. Be there 1 hour early to get set up and be prepared. Have any wavers or sign in sheets ready. Don’t forget the ink pens. Request information like (Name, Address, Phone Number, Email Address and Emergency Contact). Also have your gloves, barley bags and grabbers staged and ready to hand out.
Have a safety plan in place and be ready to put it into action at a moments notice. Your volunteers safety is vital to the success of your operation. Use the RS Safety Operating Guidelines as a model for your plan if need be.
Remember, your volunteers time is as valuable as yours. Be as efficient as possible. Have a prompt start and finish time. Be ready to assign teams to particular duties or areas. Have a clear plan on what to do with the trash once it is collected.
When all the trash is collected in your reusable barley bags. Be sure to weigh all of them so you know what kind of positive impact your group of volunteers made. Afterwards simply empty the bags into a nearby or approved dumpster.
Be sure to collect all the gear and equipment back from the volunteers at the end of the cleanup. And be sure to leave the meet location clean.
Always make sure you clean and wash all the gloves and bags after your event. And reorganize the gear in a handy tote for easy storage and transport.
Then let’s not forget to share with your community and the world what your volunteers did. Social media is the easiest way to do this. Share photos/videos from the event including numbers like: how many volunteers, total volunteer hours and total weight collected.
Follow this checklist and hopefully it will help make your next zero added waste cleanup a success. Feel free to reach out to us for any advice or suggestions you might need. We are always happy to help or even possibly partner with you on your cleanups. The REAL beneficiary is our public spaces and communities. We can do this by fostering stewardship together.