Overview
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, EcoAction Arlington is organizing a virtual cleanup from April 7 to April 30.
Like other community nonprofits, EcoAction Arlington has responded to the need for social distancing to combat COVID-19 by canceling our spring events. But we still want to offer you the opportunity to make a difference and remove litter from our streets, sidewalks, and yards.
Removing litter from our community is extremely important. Litter washes from lawns, streets, driveways, and sidewalks into storm drains, then into our streams and rivers. In addition to being unsightly, litter, especially plastics, can cause lots of problems in marine ecosystems. Millions of animals are killed by plastics every year, from birds to fish to other marine organisms.
As if celebrating 50 years of Earth Day is not enough, we’re making it even better. Everyone who participates in this virtual event and fills out our online digital reporting form before midnight on May 1 has a chance to take part in a drawing to win our gift package to help you reduce your use of single-use plastics: a $10 gift card to Simply Straws and a $10 gift card to Bee’s Wrap. Thank you to the Earth Day Network for the grant that enabled us to provide these prizes!
How to Participate
Between April 7 and April 30, we invite you to take a trash bag with you while walking outside your house or on your block. Then follow the steps below to let us know what you collected.
You can work on your own or with members of your family or household. For all participants, we hope you can use our data collection sheet and tally the types of trash you are picking up (i.e. plastic containers, food wrappers, metal cans, etc…). However, the trash tally is optional. If you don’t do the trash tally, please just report the number of bags of trash you collect.
1. Download our data collection sheet to tally the types of trash you collect (optional).
2. Gather supplies: gloves, trash bags, and a clipboard. We recommend using plastic grocery bags but any size trash bag will work. Consider having two bags and separate clean recyclables from trash.
3. If you can, working with at least one partner can be helpful. While one person is picking up trash, the other person should tally the type of trash on the data collection sheet. Also, keep track of how many trash bags you fill.
4. Report what you collect via our online form. You are welcome to fill out one form each time you collect trash, or collect on multiple days and report all at once when you are done. Please enter all data no later than Friday, May 1.
If you have questions, please contact EcoAction Arlington at volunteer@ecoactionarlington.org.
Safety Instructions
As you are cleaning up, please make sure to follow Governor Northam’s current stay-at-home executive order. We also recommend following the Center for Disease Control’s safety guidelines as well as current Arlington County guidelines about our parks, fields, and playgrounds.
- Only do cleanups with other family members or members of your household.
- Wear gloves while picking up trash.
- When outside, wear a mask if at all possible and stay six feet away from other people.
- Focus on picking up trash in the areas closest to your house.
- All Arlington parks, fields, and playgrounds are closed. The County’s nearly 49 miles of paved multi-use trails and additional hiking trails remain open, with strict social distancing.
- After tallying trash, put what you collect directly into waste and/or recycling bins.
- Wash your hands thoroughly when you are done.