Photograph courtesy of Charlene Suits
Garbage Patrol: Members of Willow Glen Girl Scout Brownie Troop 670 (from left) Erika Suits, Anne Gatesy, Maggie Kettmann, and Claire Noack participated in the 'Pick Up San José,' anti-litter event April 20 in honor of Earth Day. The girls are all first-graders at St. Christopher's School.
Willow Glen cleans up in honor of Earth Day
WG volunteers collect about 30 bags of trash
By George Moore
It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it. Make that 650 somebodies collecting 960 bags of garbage to kick off San Jose's new anti-litter campaign on April 20.
The Earth Day-inspired event, called "Pick Up San José," went very well, according to Rick Stanton, supervisor of the city's anti-litter and anti-graffiti programs. However, he was anxious to know how many participants had signed up to be ongoing volunteers.
"One of the things that has made the anti-graffiti program so successful is that we ask individuals to remove graffiti whenever they see it," said Stanton. "We're hoping to start with at least 100 ongoing volunteers to pick up litter."
Four years ago, San Jose began with 121 anti-graffiti volunteers and today has more than 2,500. There has been a 92 percent reduction of graffiti from three years ago as a result. When the program started, there were about 70,000 "tags," and there were less than 7,000 this year.
A diverse group of about 60 volunteers of all ages from the Willow Glen area collected 30 bags of trash. They met at the Sherman Oaks Community Center for a brief orientation and received their litter kits before hitting the streets. Many attended a free celebratory lunch afterward at the Cathedral of Faith Church.
Carrie Wright, project coordinator for the Adopt-a-Street program, said everyone was enthusiastic about going out and cleaning up. Many teenagers participated in order to fulfill community service requirements.
Stanton said the large amount of teens could be a sign that the program could tap into local schools for ongoing volunteers.
"In order for the anti-litter program to be a success, people have to be responsible where others are not," said Stanton. "When people are walking their dogs or their kids to school, why not take a trash bag and litter stick? Those little things will make a big difference."
According to Stanton, people tend to keep an eye out for their block or neighborhood when it comes to graffiti, and he would like to inspire the same trend with litter.
Stanton said he hopes to develop a marketing campaign to remind people young and old that they should not litter to begin with.
"People seeing others picking up after somebody else can encourage them to do the same," said Stanton. "There are different levels to this thing. If we could move everybody up one level from wherever they are, that would be great."
Stanton realizes that getting people to develop the same intolerance of litter as they have of graffiti is going to take some time.
"Graffiti stirs people's emotions because they know whoever is doing it is willfully defacing property and knows they're doing something wrong," said Stanton. "Someone throwing a wrapper on the ground isn't looked at as a criminal."
Those interested in becoming involved and obtaining a free litter kit - which contains bags, gloves, vests and litter sticks - can call 408.277.3208. The city will pick up collected trash at no cost to the volunteers.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
