Monday, April 18, 2011

Lost: the Famous "I Love Compost" Magnet


About a week ago, I discovered something that confirmed why my car felt a little strange as of late. Someone had stolen the "I Love Compost" magnet" from the Hamilton County Recycling and Solid Waste District from the back of my 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid.


They have been one with each other since the Recyclebank press event, back in October, at Annwood Park. Clearly, these buggers found this beautiful magnet to be a valuable find. If you have an extra one, or have any sightings to report of Hamilton County Recycling and Solid Waste District giving these away during Earth Week, send me a line! This is a 21st Century, First World tragedy--yes. But it would be nice to get a replacement!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Details on the Great American Cleanup in Clifton (Cincinnati) - Saturday, APRIL 16th (8:30am-1:00pm)

**IF YOU FEEL ANYONE YOU KNOW WOULD BE INTERESTED IN JOINING US FOR THE CLEANUP, PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH A FRIEND.**

We are rapidly approaching the Great American Cleanup for 2011. As the founder of the CTM Green Clifton Committee, I really wanted to get Clifton on track with annual cleanup events, after what I understood as a long dormancy. My goal is to make this second annual effort bigger than the last. Before I get into the details of this year's event, I want to thank everyone who has expressed any level of interest.


The basics...
Date and time: Saturday, April 16th at 8:30am
Meetup place (or home base): Clifton Plaza (333 Ludlow Ave)
Morning kickoff: Please arrive by 8:30am, so that we can coordinate the efforts with team leaders, assign teams for our volunteers, get liability forms signed, and get acquainted over coffee and eats.
Duration: We're looking at a 9:00am start time, expecting teams to return to Clifton Plaza by noon.
What's next?: I am working on a couple local partnerships within our business district that would provide food for our volunteers after great hard work. No one has any need to worry about not seeing food in front themselves after the cleanup. Lunch will be served from 12pm to 1pm.

The cleanup and supplies...
What's being picked up? We will be picking up trash and recyclables separately. Keep Cincinnati Beautiful will be supplying all teams in Cincinnati with different colored bags, white for one and clear for the other. Weeding out recyclables from our pickup materials is taken very seriously.
Electronics? Yes, electronics are being collected, as a part of the Great American Cleanup. However, they will not be a part of the regular cleanup activities. Instead, KCB has arranged for two drop off locations during the event--one is Blue Ash and another at a still unreported location central to all of Greater Cincinnati's neighborhoods. I will keep you up to date on that piece.
Supplies: Based on supplies from Keep Cincinnati Beautiful from last year, volunteers will receive bright KCB volunteer t-shirts. As stated earlier, KCB will also supply separate bags for recyclables and trash, latex gloves, a pocket first aid kit for home base, and posters for the event. You may see some posters around Clifton in the days leading up to the event. Until the Supply Day--Tuesday, April 12th--I will not know exactly what we will receive but I planned for supplies for 30 volunteers. Do not fret--KCB overcompensates with supplies for team volunteer estimates, and I will make sure we are not running low.

Routes...
You will find a draft map of team routes attached to this email. The highlighted routes are suggested based on main vehicular or pedestrian routes, common cut-throughs, and known problem areas. I would encourage team leaders to cover other neighborhood streets within their zones if time permits. But I think these routes will take up a significant portion of our time. I will provide individual route maps on cleanup day.

Team leaders...
I have already received interest from individuals becoming team leaders. Due to the large expanse of our neighborhood, we may need two or more team leaders per route. It depends on the turnout by 8:30am or so on April 16th. Feel free to email me, if you are interested in becoming a team leader.

Please let me know if you feel that I am leaving anything out here. If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to email me.


Very much thanks,

Christian Huelsman
Clifton Town Meeting, board member
CTM Green Clifton Committee, chair
GAC Clifton site leader
christianhuelsman@cliftoncommunity.org