20 Minute Clean-Up: 20 minutes of ACTION! And much more….

Let’s stop complaining about our dirty city and do something about it!

On Friday April 18^th 2008 the Ralph Thornton Community Centre and various local partner agencies and volunteers will participate in the City of Toronto’s

20 minute Clean-Up.

The 20 minute clean-up is more than just 20 minutes of garbage picking.

It is….

• 20 minutes of socializing and engaging with people who live, work and play in the neighbourhood;
• it’s a 20 minute work-out;
• It’s 20 minutes of citizen participation and ACTION to keep our neighbourhood clean!

Collective Action:

As citizens, these are small ways that we can all participate collectively in order to keep our community healthy and clean. Part of the bigger problem with all of this litter is that we also need to consider why there is so much in the first place! Our society is inundated with packaged goods, take-out food and plastic! Recycling is only part of the solution. I challenge everyone of us to consider how much waste we produce in our daily lives

Don’t we need to be reminding ourselves where is all of this garbage going anyway? Shouldn’t we feel guilty about just throwing away things in the garbage only to be sent off to some huge pit somewhere in the middle of nowhere? Isn’t the real problem that we are just all huge consumers of products that produce waste in the first place?

Here are some things to do to reduce the waste in your life:

• take a re-usable food container when I do go out for take-out food
• use cotton bags instead of plastic bags
• use a stainless steel drinking container for refilling with water rather than buying plastic water bottles
• when grocery shopping, don’t put your veggies in the plastic bags (who cares if you get a little dirt everywhere!)
• buy biodegradable soap that does not come in a package
• get laundry soap that is biodegradable and comes in a brown paper bag (much less waste than a huge plastic container!)
• use both sides of pieces of paper
• re-use old envelopes and packaging as quick and easy notepads
• buy food in bulk
• don’t buy unnecessary things and if you do need something search for it used first
• use reusable and washable dishcloths for spills and cleaning instead of paper towels

What are you doing?

The RTCC encourages residents, organizations and local businesses to get involved in a 20 minute clean-up in your part of the neighbourhood or city.

If you would like to participate with Ralph Thornton Centre’s 20 Minute Clean-Up please contact Joanne Fisher at 416-392-6810 ext. 234

For more information about the City of Toronto Clean-up Days visit:

http://www.toronto.ca/litter/

For information on how you can reduce and reuse visit this site:

http://www.greenontario.org/solutions/waste.html