10 Trash Resolutions for the New Year

Dear Neighbors,

Two thousand and eleven has been a very busy year for our trash removal volunteers, spending hundreds of hours picking up a thousand pounds of trash from the curbs, sidewalks, and parking lots along the streets in Friendship Heights and on Little Falls Parkway and River Road. We also have been contacting local merchants to encourage them to keep the areas around their business premises clean, and have been lobbying state and county officials to strengthen the enforcement and scope of solid waste laws.

Trash left on the ground creates a host of ills, including blighting the neighborhood, lowering property values, and damaging the environment. Rainwater washes it into storm drains that empty into the Little Falls Creek, and eventually farther downstream into the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.

We hope for a better year in 2012. You can help. Please consider making and keeping one or more of the following resolutions for the new year:

1. I will dispose of trash and pet waste in a proper receptacle.

2. I will educate my children to do the same.

3. I will pick up at least 5 pieces of trash each day that I walk in the neighborhood.

4. I and members of my household will "adopt" a street block near my home and strive to keep it trash free.

5. I will educate myself about which materials are recyclable and deposit them in the appropriate blue recycling can (for mixed paper/cardboard) or bin (for mixed metals/plastic/glass) provided to me by the county. Please see: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/dep/solidwaste/collectionservices/curbside.asp

6. I will bind or contain loose papers before I put them in the blue recycling can, and bag garbage before placing it in my trash can, so as to minimize the chance of spillage upon collection by sanitation workers. I will clean up any spillage that does occur.

7. I will pick up from in front of my home any newspapers delivered there, and I will contact the circulation department of any newspaper that I do not wish to receive to cancel delivery. For:

The Gazette, please see: http://www.gazette.net/article/20110118/MISC01/110119990&template=gazette

The Examiner, please see: http://washingtonexaminer.com/examiner-stop-delivery-request

The Washington Post, please see: https://subscription.washingtonpost.com/subscriberservices/subscriber.portal;jsessionid=7GRmT43LdD1JBsf1hpJJsbny0kQ3j8PsrGSzJpYYQ2yFyTRFLkB0!-1166501001?state=faqs

8. I will volunteer to participate in organized trash pick-ups conducted by the Little Falls Watershed Alliance. Please see: http://www.lfwa.org/pick-up

9. I will call 311 to report violations of the Montgomery County Code provisions that require businesses to keep their parking lots and other grounds free of trash. Please see: http://www3.montgomerycountymd.gov/311/

10. I will instruct any lawn mowing services that I employ to pick up any trash before mowing, and to not mow over it.

We wish you all a very happy, healthy, and prosperous 2012. Thank you.

Richard Yates
Vice President for Government Relations & Trash Abatement Committee Coordinator
Little Falls Watershed Alliance, Inc.