Earlier this year, we had big plans for a citywide Earth Day clean-up that would have involved groups of people working together, followed by a major celebration. Due to the Coronavirus, those plans had to be cancelled. We can still honor Earth Day. Although we cancelled plans for doing something big leading to a party at DiDomenico-16th Street Park, we can still do something local and effective. Put on a face mask and gloves, step outside, and clean up around your own home or business. Let’s try to keep at least the front of our properties tidy. This can make a big difference for our neighborhoods. The appropriate date for the Earth Day clean-up at home would be Saturday, April 25, with a rain date of Sunday, April 26. Make sure that you maintain a distance of at least six feet from other people. If you are also able to clean up in front of an elderly or handicapped neighbor’s home, that would be a great step for Bayonne unity.
We need to clean up the community. Since we have cancelled mechanical street-sweeping during the Coronavirus emergency, litter has piled up on streets that are normally cleaned. Litter has also accumulated on side streets and other roads that are not part of the mechanical street-sweeping program.
When you clean up around your property, please pick up litter with shovels, tongs, or other tools while wearing gloves and a face mask. Please place paper and cardboard refuse in the container you use for the paper/cardboard recycling pickup. Please place cans, bottles, and similar items with recycling numbers on them in the container you use for the cans/bottles recycling pick-up. Food waste and other garbage should be deposited in the plastic bags and barrels that you use normally for non-recyclable refuse. If you find discarded rubber gloves, please do not touch them with your bare hands. Instead, use tongs or other tools to pick up the gloves before depositing them in a plastic garbage bag.
It would be great if you could clean up the part of your street that is right below the curb.
Please email photos of your clean-up activities to mayors.office@baynj.org. We would welcome pictures of both the cleaning and the results for Facebook. Thanks for doing your part for our planet and community.
