Our communities are integral to the way we live. We all would enjoy a cleaner and greener community than a worn and dirty one. However, gaining such a community does not happen overnight. It doesn’t matter where you live either. What matters is having a cleaner and greener community is individual contribution and determination.
A decent amount of cities in the US are ranked among the dirtiest cities in the world. It’s a real shame because cleanliness is a choice we have to make actively, which means that as long as we choose to keep our streets clean, we don’t have to worry about them getting dirty ever again.
A dirty community usually represents high crime rates, lazy community members, and pure disregard for other people living within the city. People within these communities tend to be egocentric and are likely to be toxic in how they act. By cleaning your community, you can make a difference in the way these people act. Let’s talk about ways you can get to that.
Reduce Your Waste
Let’s start with something you can do yourself, and that is reducing your waste. It’s estimated that a single American can produce three times more trash when compared to other people worldwide. That’s a tremendous amount of waste if you think about it and a lot of money.
Waste equals expense, and you should think about it this way. If you want to save money, reduce your waste. You can start by decreasing the amount of food you throw out every day. You can also begin donating your clothes instead of leaving them out in the trash. Do composting if you have a garden. All of these can make your home and community a lot cleaner.
Start a Litter Pick
Now let’s get into some community-oriented activities. A litter pick can be a fun activity for everybody, and it’s one of the best ways to keep your community clean for a week.
Many community members tend to throw their trash anywhere, and this isn’t entirely their fault. If the next community thrash bin is a mile away, then you’ll probably not consider disposing of your trash properly. However, it’s vital that they also start taking responsibility for it.
Five people being a part of a litter pick can make a difference. If you want to have more members, consider partnering with your local school. You can get a constant stream of participants from students who want to make their community a better place from there.
Recycling Drive
After your litter pick, you should consider going for a recycling drive as well. This means collecting all the recycled materials you’ve found from your litter pick activity and the entire neighborhood and giving them to the recycling plant. If you have some experience with recycling, you can do this yourself as well.
Recycling can reduce the entire community’s waste. The best part of it all is that you can put all the recycled materials back into circulation. This can help with keeping your community green. Talk about hitting two birds with one stone!
Start a Community Garden
One of the best places to use your recycled materials and community compost is starting a community garden. It is one way you can keep your community clean and green. Using recycled plastic water bottles as makeshift pots and compost as fertilizer is one way to reduce waste. Furthermore, the garden can be a way for you to give back to those people who helped with keeping your community clean.
Suggest Individual Home Installments to Your Neighbor
Lastly, the effort of keeping your community clean can depend on the choices of each individual and family living within your neighborhood. Sometimes what they install in their homes can make a difference in the cleanliness of your community.
Feel free to suggest effective home installments to your neighbors. For example, installing seamless gutters on homes in your neighborhood will undoubtedly help with flooding. This will reduce the chance of flooding in your streets and the various trash that can be dragged alongside it.
Remember that keeping your community clean is a team effort. Although those in your neighborhood may not heed these suggestions, some would still listen to you. These people who make the necessary home installments to keep your community clean can undoubtedly see the benefits of a clean and greener community.
Keeping your community clean should be a priority for many people. A clean community is more likely to produce healthier and happy individuals. Interestingly enough, communities that are cleaner also enjoy the benefits of low crime rates. So make sure to keep your neighborhood clean today so that you, your family, and all the members of your community can enjoy these benefits.
