Your small efforts make a huge impact

DID YOU KNOW that in Memphis and Shelby County we are producing more than 1.7 million tons of waste per year? That’s roughly 1,800 pounds of waste per person.

Excessive waste overflows our landfills, pollutes the air with methane gas, and is often found as litter in our neighborhoods. We can reverse this trend by taking action. Your small efforts can make a huge impact. #901DoOneThing is about the individual steps you can take to tackle this load.

More than 40% of our trash can be recycled! In fact, it’s not trash at all. We’re throwing away money and new job opportunities. Plastic bottles make up 20% of our landfill waste. If we were able to recycle 10% of our plastics, we could create approximately 2,500 new jobs within the next 2 years. Did you know that those same bottles will never disintegrate and will continue to pollute our soil indefinitely? Plastics are not the only lost recycling opportunity, we can also make a huge impact by recycling paper, aluminum, and glass.

In the city of Memphis, we have 167 public parks throughout our neighborhoods. Park adopters help the city maintain our public green spaces by keeping their parks clean and litter-free with the help of their neighbors and beautifying these green spaces by planting flowers, plants, and small trees. The benefits of public green spaces are tremendous. Public green spaces provide better air quality, improves emotional health by reducing stress, and enhances neighborhood property value. Memphis City Beautiful has been around for over 90 years, helping to make Memphis a cleaner and greener city. Their adopt-a-park program has supported do-gooders in their neighborhoods by connecting park adopters to the tools and resources they need to make a real impact.

Many of us think the storm drains are connected to our sewage system. No, that is incorrect! Our stormwater drains connect to the ocean. That means the litter, trash, and unnecessary clutter that we see lining our curbs are contributing to water pollution. Memphis Storm Water, Wolf River Conservancy, and Clean Memphis all work diligently to help protect our waterway system by promoting storm drain adoption. Storm drain adoption is simple. Take a pledge to keep the 2 or 3 storm drains in front of your home or workplace clean and trash free by cleaning out your storm drains 2 times per month.