Organizing a Litter Clean Up
We are missing the data on what YOU are doing! Community groups and individuals are cleaning up litter on daily walks and organized large scale cleanups. To better understand all that is happening to pick up litter, we’re starting a pilot project to show everyone’s work in one place. The Litter-Free Mobile Collection Pilot Project includes a tool and a how-to guide for making sure everyone’s work is documented and shared. Here’s how YOU can be involved.
Organizing a Cleanup:
You’ll need to consider a few points before you get started:
1) Where do you want to clean up?
2) Do you want to organize a group or clean-up on your daily walk?
3) Do you need help? This can be tools like pickers and trash bags or it could be that you need the City to come to pick up the collected trash at the end of your event.
If you’ve got those answers, Click HERE and select “Community Cleanup” in the drop-down menu to Register your clean-up.
If you’re going solo on your regular walk, you can skip the above step and simply click or scan THIS QR CODE and get started.
If you need tools or for the city to pick up the collected litter, we ask that you register AT LEAST TWO WEEKS in advance.
Once you’ve registered at this link, you’ll receive an email with details and the next steps.
At this link, you’ll be asked questions about the details of your event like name, location, etc. There are a few additional points you’ll want to keep in mind:
- Name of your group and a partner organization if you’re working with a business, church, scout, non-profit, etc.
- Contact Person
- Date and Time of Cleanup
- Location – starting point
- Number of People Involved
- Register your cleanup here TWO WEEKS in advance – especially if you need to borrow any tools or if you need the city to pick up the collected litter.
- You will also have a few options to select:
- If you’re an individual, you can choose to make your location known. This system will default to collect the information, but not share your location (to maintain your privacy).
- If you submit pics - and we hope you will - you’ll sign a waiver. We’ll review pics and if possible, post them on the City’s social media and website.
- You’ll have a choice to make your event public in advance so anyone willing can join or keep it just to your group. If you choose public, we’ll post it on the website and share it on social media as we’re able.
The primary purpose of this new process and tool is to gauge how many POUNDS of litter are collected annually, how many PEOPLE are engaging in cleanups, and WHERE are cleanups happening.
To help gather data in a uniform manner - particularly to measure pounds – please decide BEFORE your cleanup the size of bags you’re going to use. We will use the bag size chosen to estimate how many pounds by the size of bag. The options available are grocery bag (1-3 gallon), Kitchen garbage bag - 13 gallons; Small yard bag – 30 gallons; Large Yard bag – 45 gallons; X-Large Yard Bag 55 gallons.
As soon as you register for the clean-up, you will receive an email for your team lead (or you as an individual) to download an app for your smartphone or use a web link to report the details of your cleanup. Or you can grab it here:
Community, Litter Crew, and Osprey Initiative’s litter clean-up data is all compiled in this Pilot Project Dashboard so everyone can track the hard work happening across the City of Mobile.
With this data, we plan to look for additional litter hotspots and secure a clearer picture of all that is being done city-wide to collect litter. We hope this information inspires folks to organize clean-ups and, most importantly, stop litter before it happens.