I only did litter patrol 64 hours in 2018 (about half of what I did in 2017). I collected 250 gallons of non-recyclables from the beach, 185 gallons of non-recyclables from streets, and 208 recyclable plastic bottles from both. The Easter and Christmas holidays always generate the most litter. Between the 2-week Easter holiday, I spent 16 hours & removed 105 gallons from the beach & 15 gallons of non-recyclables from the streets, and 43 plastic bottles from both. I was sick over the Christmas holiday, and did nada.
In addition, I helped organize and participated in 2 community events that removed substantial amounts of litter. The first event, on March 9, had the highest turnout of volunteers, who removed massive amounts from streets around the primary school and in the arroyo. The second event, about a month later, focused on streets near the school garden, and especially on Lazaro Cardenas (the road from the highway to La Manzanilla). There were fewer volunteers than the first event, but they filled almost 1/3 of a dumpster, and also collected lots of recyclable bottles.
The litter grabber lending library is still functioning. I hope people will borrow a grabber if they have time to do litter patrol on their own schedules and preferred routes.
Also, the public waste can project is proceeding. I now have stencils and paint, and hope to have information soon about cans that can be acquired. I intend to place the first 10 public waste cans in the next month. It will be a pilot launch and will be followed by substantially more cans in the next few months. My hope, and seat-of-the-pants estimate, is that 100 public waste cans will be placed this year.
For more information about the litter grabber lending library and public waste can project, see http://www.lamanzanilla.info/la_manzanilla_message_board/17-03-27_to_17-12-24/msg/1513050153.html.
During the Winter season, I will try to recruit people with artistic talent to lend to the aesthetic appeal of the public waste cans after they are acquired and prepared. Stay tuned if you'd like to be involved in that! Or contact me at mercer.vicki@gmail.com.
Sincerely,
Vicki Mercer
Lead, Litter Committee
La Manzanilla Hermosa
Limpia y Sana, Orgullo de México
(Clean & Healthy, Pride of Mexico)
P.S. Between 2008 and 2018, I spent about 2,125 hours on litter patrol and a dear friend joined me for about 20 hours in 2017. In those years, 15,533 gallons of non-recyclables from the beach, 1,220 gallons of non-recyclables from streets, and 4,335 recyclable bottles from both were removed. Never underestimate what one or two people can do! And, I know many other people also removed more. I think La Manzanilla has one of the cleanest beaches in Mexico, because of volunteer efforts. So hurrah for all of the volunteers!!!
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