Shaw Neighborhood Cleanup This Saturday!

Treebox Vodka's back at it with a neighborhood cleanup this Saturday (September 27). These cleanups are great ways to connect with neighbors, show some pride in Shaw, have some fun, and help the environment. Go here for updates and the most current information.

Shaw September 2008 Neighborhood Cleanup
Date: Saturday, September 27th
Time: 10:00 AM
Where: 9th & O Streets (by Azi's)
What: We'll be starting at Azi's and fan our way out to the neighborhood.
Bring: Gloves, friends, any additional tools you want to use for cleaning.
Treebox Vodka Will Supply: Trash bags, a few extra gloves, and some trash picking tongs.

Shaw Monthly Cleanup this Saturday

Treebox Vodka wants to set a group record by having 30 volunteers show up at this Saturday's installment of the Shaw Monthly Cleanup! This great monthly event really is a fun way to band together and show some pride for our great neighborhood. Below are the current details for Saturday, but go here for the latest updates:


Shaw Monthly Cleanup - March 2008
Target Area: 7th Street
Meet: Rhode Island Avenue and 7th Street, NW
Time: Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Bring: Gloves, friends, any additional tools you want to use for cleaning. Treebox Vodka will Supply trash bags, a few extra gloves, and some trash picking tongs.

Shaw Cleanup Goes East

It's time for another installment of the Shaw monthly cleanup! The unstoppable Treebox Vodka reports that this month's instalment will tackle litter around 5th street, Rhode Island, and the Montgomery School grounds. The cleanup will also incorporate some trash-oriented competitions. For more details and updates, go here.

Shaw Monthly Cleanup - December 2007
Meet: 5th Street & Rhode Island Avenue, NW
Time: 10 AM
Bring: Friends, family, gloves, warm clothing
Weather: Current forecast is sun, 55 is the high

Shaw Monthly Cleanup This Saturday

From TreeBoxVodka.com:

Join TreeBoxVodka.com this Saturday, October 13th for the Shaw Monthly Clean Up. This is our third month out as we continue these mini clean ups that focus on targeted areas of the community. We choose a few streets to focus on and pick up litter, weed treeboxes, and other tasks to keep the community clean. We'll be focused on the O street corridor through the heart of Shaw. Starting at 11th street and going down to 5th.

Here are the details: Saturday, October 13th 9:00 AM; Meet up at 11th and O Streets

Also, we are doing a frequent litter-picker card! Get your card stamped three times and get a free prize.

These monthly cleanups are a great way to meet neighbors and to show some Shaw pride by sprucing up of a stretch of our great neighborhood. Go here for more details.

Treebox Vodka Reports on Adopt a Bus Stop

Live near a bus stop and feeling slack in your neighborhood litter eradication duties? Treebox Vodka reports about WMATA's Adopt a Bus-Stop program. Adopting a stop commits you to keeping the stop clean, accessible and free of debris for a term of 6 months, 1 year or 2 years. In return, you get your name on the bus stop, a snazzy day glow orange vest, trash bags, and a sense of pride in making community more appealing.

Treebox Vodka

It’s no secret that I’m not in love with the name I chose for this blog—it’s long, negative, hard to remember, and so forth. Accordingly, when I hear others’ catchy, memorable blog titles, I admittedly get blog title envy. Well, that happened today when a neighbor sent me a link to his new blog entitled Treebox Vodka, a blog documenting one man’s frustrations over and fights with litter in our area. He states that the “title Treebox Vodka was inspired by the wonderful bottles of Vodka I pick up on my way to work in the mornings out of tree boxes.” Clever, right?

I look forward to reading about his efforts, struggles, and observations. And I look forward to helping his cause in fighting the ever-present litterers trashing our great neighborhood.

Get Your Butt Off the Sidewalk

I needed to catch up on my resolution to pick up at least 5 pieces of trash a day, so I decided to use yesterday's GORGEOUS WEATHER as an excuse to make up for lost time. Trash bag in hand, I made my way up and down my side of my block for about an hour and a half picking up litter. I mean, I knew there was an excessive amount of trash on my block, but I had no idea there could be so much. The most common thing I found was discarded cigarette butts. The most uncommon thing I found was a bio-hazard bag (ugh. . . I didn't realize what it was until I'd grabbed it by one of its corners. . . mental note, wear gloves next time I help clean up my block).

I am ecstatic that DC has gone smoke free in its bars and restaurants (I've got my fingers crossed that we'll go trans-fat free, too, soon, but that's a different story). But with the smoking ban in effect, restaurants and bars are going to have to be vigilant in accommodating and taking responsibility for their smoking patrons. By far, the highest concentration of cigarette butts I picked up was in front of a restaurant, and I noticed no cigarette receptacle by the restaurant's front door.

That's not to say that I didn't find a hell of a lot of cigarette and cigar butts on the rest of the block. Smokers need to be much more responsible, too: cigarette butts ARE trash and should be discarded as such rather than thrown on the ground or in a tree bed. Here are a few annoying facts about cigarette butts that are worth stressing:

1. Cigarettes are the most littered item in America and the world. Source

2. Cigarette butts are not biodegradable in the sense that most people think of the word. The acetate (plastic) filters can take many years to decompose. Smokers may not realize that their actions have such a lasting, negative impact on the environment. Source.

3. "[Cigarette butts] also present a threat to wildlife. Cigarette filters have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds, whales and other marine creatures who mistake them for food ... Composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic, cigarette butts can persist in the environment as long as other forms of plastic."
Clean Virginia Waterways.

4. They pose a fire hazard. The most common cause of fire related deaths and injuries in the U.S. is careless smoking. While the majority of these cases involve indoor smoking, many of these fires are the result of littered cigarettes, whether tossed out of a car or thrown on the ground by pedestrians. Source.


PHOTO CREDIT: PR Web, available
here.

Slightly Greener Living: Recycling Bin Arrives

As previously reported, last week I ordered a recycling bin to abate my non-green living. Despite comments from others about bad experiences with the Department of Public Works regarding response times to such requests and regarding the availability of blue supercans on certain blocks in our neighborhood, I'm happy to report that my blue supercan arrived today (just a few days after I made the request). I'll be sure to keep a close watch on it, as I now know that I'm fortunate to live on a block that gets such receptacles and that DPW's track record with others isn't as good as it's been with me.

If you are lagging in the recycling department like I was and are willing to try your luck with DPW, request your recycling supercan today by calling the Citywide Call Center at 202.727.1000.

A few neighborly resolution suggestions for 2007

As you're formulating your resolutions for 2007, consider one or more of these neighborhood-enhancing commitments:

1. Pick up at least 5 pieces of trash outside a day.

2. Volunteer in our neighborhood. Here are a few options; contact the volunteer coordinators for specific opportunities:

+ Voulunteer at the new (ugh--modular) Library and help make the best of the temporary library situation. To learn more about volunteering at the Library, call Bill Turner, Volunteer Coordinator, at 202.727.4968 or send him email at bill.turner@dc.gov.

+ Volunteer at one of our neighborhood schools. Contact DCPS community relations office at 202.727.0488.

+ Volunteer at the Kennedy Recreatrion Center or at one of the local parks. Contact the Department of Parks and Recreation at dprpartnerships@dc.gov to choose from a variety of volunteer opportunities ranging from a one-day project to a long-term commitment.

+ Volunteer at Bread for the City. Complete the volunteer application available on their website or contact Valentine Woods, Volunteer Coordinator, to request one at 202.386.7611.

3. Organize and/or participate in a neighborhood watch for your block. Check here for more information.

4. Become a graffiti fighter. Buy paint now and, every other week, paint over tags.


My creativity's tapped after a long night of celebrating--anyone have any resolution suggestions?

I hope everyone had a safe and fun time ringing in 07!!

More trash talk: A shameful secret and an easy solution

Jimbo's recent post about folks being irresponsible with their trash prompted a little self-reflection on my part. While I’m a bit of a litter nazi, I must confess a shameful secret: I have not recycled anything since moving to the new manse. Well hopefully that will change very soon, as I finally ordered a recycling bin from the city today.

Looking up and down my alley, it appears that I’m not the only one in need of a blue supercan to abate mother-earth-unfriendly refuse habits. Acquiring one could not be easier: all you have to do is contact the Citywide Call Center at (202) 727-1000 and request a recycling bin. The call takes all of 2 minutes, requires no financial expenditure, and will cause the delivery of a beautiful blue "trash" can within days.

Once you receive the bin, all you need to do is place all of your clean recyclables into it. No separating is required: just place items loose into the cart, including newspaper, office paper, mail, paperback books, corrugated cardboard, paperboard (cereal boxes, etc.), metal cans, glass containers and narrow-neck plastic bottles. Wheel your bin out on the same day as your garbage pick up, and voila, you’ve helped out mother earth.


PHOTO CREDIT: D.C. Department of Public Works

Talking Trash in December

I've observed a lot of trash on the streets around my house. I imagine most of it is due to people lacking a respect for their surroundings rather than the unintentional release by garbage collectors. Now I know I'm not the world's greatest environmentalist, but I really don't get people who just throw trash on the ground instead of walking 50 feet to the nearest trash can to deposit their refuse. The identities of the culprits of this public nuisance may sometimes surprise you: I caught my dad dropping a cough drop wrapper in China Town recently and, shocked, made him pick it up and throw it away properly (he had a pitiful, ashamed look on his face when I called him out for it). I'm sorry to state the obvious, but littering is unacceptable. Kudos to groups like Shaw EcoVillage for teaching our youth about being responsible stewards of our planet.

Looking for a last minute gift for anyone? Consider making an online tax-deductible donation to Shaw EcoVillage.


PHOTO CREDIT: Muckster on Flickr.