When my eldest son was in boy scouts we scheduled a clean up day for his troop in the sixty acres of vacant lot behind our neighborhood. Our neighborhood had the owner’s permission to access the land, and we took full advantage riding bikes, hiking, and playing all sorts of hide-seek games in the epidemic of elms and cottonwoods. Neighbor kids had a code: you could stash boxes of treasures, shovels, rope swings, and anyone could use them, as long as you left ’em where you found ’em.
Unfortunately, the woodsy land was prime squatting for the homeless, and they left a terrible mess: campfire rings littered with hard liquor bottles and beer cans. Raggy clothes. Discarded skeletons of tents and backpacks. So when our boy scout troop wanted a service project, we thought clean up day would be a nice thank-you gift. We donned work gloves, gathered leaf trash bags, and hauled in the pick up truck to reclaim our stomping ground. I don’t remember how many bags of trash we drove to the dump, but I do remember the warm feeling of empowerment, the camaraderie, and of course, the breath of relief the land exuded.
September 21 is World Clean Up Day, and groups from all over the world will gather to spruce up parks, highways, and playgrounds. It’s a simple, practical way for the whole world to be in community. Anyone can join. There is no fee or any organization to join–just a call to action we can all answer with a pair of gloves and a trash bag. Here’s how to get involved:
- Take a peek at the National Clean Up Day website. Find a local group or create your own. You can even upload photos of your clean up day and send a report of how much litter you collected. The site promises to look at every e-mail they receive.
- Don’t feel like formality? Gather some trash bags and your kids and hit the playground. Be sure everyone is wearing gloves for safety. Be sure to wash up afterwards. Take pictures of your hard work and upload to your favorite social media (including below!) with #WorldCleanUpDay.
- Reuse, reuse, reuse. Don’t make the trash in the first place. You can order empty spray bottles for only $5 and use them for nearly, like, ever.
We want to celebrate your hard work with you! Upload your before and after pics of your clean up activities. Pro-Tek deeply cares about a clean, healthy environment, and that’s why every product we sell is safe for this beautiful planet we call home.
