Today, Waste-Free Dayton reached an incredible milestone—our 50th litter cleanup! We kicked off our first cleanup on March 2, 2021, just down the street from where we gathered today. Now, a little over three years later, we’ve hit 50 cleanups, a number we never imagined reaching so quickly when we first started.

Make a Difference Day, recognized on the fourth Saturday of October, is the largest day of volunteering in the nation. It’s a great opportunity to get out in your community to serve others. Since we started doing litter cleanups in 2021, this is our third Make a Difference Day, and like the previous two, we are holding litter cleanups over a two day period

On Earth Day this year, Saturday, April 22nd, we held our third consecutive Earth Day litter cleanup. Like last year, we did more than one cleanup during Earth Week, and we had other events and participated in other activities during the month.

Earth Week 2022 is a wrap! Over the span of five days, we were at a Bingo Fundraiser, our Executive Director was interviewed on live TV, we had a largest cleanup event to date, we assisted at an after school program for their Earth Day activity, and we participated in a partner organization’s cleanup and beautification event. We are definitely in the “Earth Day Every Day” camp…

The theme for Earth Day in 2022 is Invest In Our Planet. Actions that we take and decisions we make on a daily basis ultimately have an effect on our planet. We should also be thinking about how our actions and decision affect our neighborhoods and cities.

On March 2nd, we celebrated the one year anniversary of our first cleanup event. Last year, Natalie, our founder, got tired of seeing all of the litter up and down Hamilton Avenue, and decided to organize that first cleanup. Since then, Waste-Free Dayton organized twelve cleanup events in the one year period ending this past February.

Spring officially arrives this coming Sunday, but with the weather we have been experiencing this week, it already feels like spring. We are entering the season of rebirth and renewal as we begin to see growth from plants, flowers, and trees, but litter also becomes more apparent on our streets and roadways. Waste-Free Dayton recently celebrated one year of cleanup events in early March, and we’re aiming for an even bigger second year.

When Waste-Free Dayton was established earlier this year as an official nonprofit organization, three focus areas were identified as critical to our mission: Reducing Plastics, Increasing Composting and Decreasing Food Waste, and Community Rejuvenation. It is that third area under which we include our monthly litter cleanup events. Organizing and mobilizing volunteers to get out into our communities is something tangible where we can see an immediate impact. It does not address the root cause of the litter - our education and awareness campaigns will hopefully help in this area - but it certainly helps with working towards healthier and safer communities. Recently, we had our largest cleanup event of the year.