Who: Keep Laredo Beautiful, together with its partners I Love Laredo and Laredo Sustainable
What: KLB Safe and Solo Cleanup Campaign Extended
When: December 1, 2020 through May 2021, or while supplies last
Where: City of Laredo Environmental Services Department, for curbside distribution, 619 Reynolds Street
Why: The Fall Cleanup was deemed a success with just over 7,000 pounds of trash and debris removed from our streets, creeks, riverbanks, parks and sidewalks by volunteers and KLB wants to keep up the momentum!
Volunteers community-wide are being reminded of this project and to pick up trash in their neighborhoods, close-by parks and trails on their own time, in their own safe space. The campaign has a mostly contactless process, but KLB requires on-site registration and distribution for the clean-up kits.
- The first step to participate, is to get a FREE clean-up kit in a drive through or curbside distribution process.
- Step two, through social media, we ask participating volunteers to self-report by posting video and photos of their litter pickup activity using the hashtag #KLBSafeandSolo;
- And finally, once they fill out an electronic litter survey, KLB awards them community service hour credit via email or snail mail.
Interested individuals are encouraged to stop by the Environmental Services Department to start the process any regular weekday, Monday through Friday, 8 AM – 5PM. Call the main office line, 956-794-1650 from your parking spot and a staff member can walk the information and kit out to your car. Registration for kit does require an email, due to the contactless nature of the post clean-up process.
The FREE Cleanup kits will be available while supplies last. Anyone that may need help with the process, or have questions about the distribution of cleanup kits, please contact KLB directly at 956-794-1650 or keeplaredobeautiful@ci.laredo.tx.us.
KLB’s Safe & Solo Fall Cleanup 2020 wrap up statistics:
- 91 volunteers
- 71 individual clean ups took place
- 356 volunteer hours logged
- 48 tires collected & disposed of properly
- 7,059 pounds of mixed waste collected and disposed of properly
- $10,000 = monetary value of volunteer time donated to KLB
This a first of its kind event for KLB and the next phase is to continue to promote the service opportunity with schools and other organizations across Laredo. By designing the various components to the event and carrying it out in this manner, KLB is taking everyone’s safety and wellness into account. Organizers are cognizant that a stay-at-home emergency order is in effect and COVID 19 operating parameters prohibit group gatherings. In a small, informal survey about a possible KLB service event to gauge volunteer sentiment, the results were decisive. Out of 164 respondents to the survey the majority definitely show interest in KLB volunteer events at 94%. And 93% of the respondents state that they would be willing to participate in a cleanup project that promotes social distancing.
