Do You Want to Adopt-A-Trashcan?
Check out what our friends on the Westside are doing with #AdoptATrashcan
Adopt-A-Trashcan
The Alchemical Nursery Project, Inc. and the Westside TNT are again teaming up to keep the westside clean. The Adopt-A-Trashcan program provides heavy-duty plastic trash cans available for placement at residences or businesses. To Adopt-A-Trashcan, residents or businesses sign a pledge agreeing to maintain the cans, place them in a prominent position accessible to the public at the front of their property, and set them to the curb on trash collection night. The heavy-duty plastic cans are stenciled with “I’m Here For You”. A wooden stake installed in the ground holds the can in place by slipping the handle over the top of the stake.
Funding for this round is being sought from the Gifford Foundation's What If? grant program. Volunteers are sought to provide outreach to recruit adopters, to become adopters, and to help with the administration of the program. Adopt-A-Block participants who may want to receive a trash can and/or volunteer in other capacities should Contact Frank Cetera at 315-308-1372, [email protected], or come to the 610 Gifford Garden Saturdays between 11:00 am - 12:00 pm for more info.
The Adopt-A-Trashcan program has placed over 40 trashcans with adopters. Using a very conservative estimate of 10% of each can’s 30-gallon volume capacity, the program has kept over 2.8 tons of trash per year off City of Syracuse streets and out of local waterways including Onondaga Lake. This calculation uses the garbage/household rubbish volume-to-weight conversion factor of .28 ounces per cubic inch from aqua-calc.com.
30 gallons = 6930 cubic inches. 6,930 cu.in. * .28 ounces per cubic inch * 40 trashcans = 77616 ounces = 2.42 tons = .06 tons per trash can. Over the course of one year we estimate the cans are filled and emptied conservatively on a monthly rotation, leading to an annual total of .06 tons for each of 40 cans * 12 months * 10% adjustment = 2.8 tons annually.