Mission and History Board of Directors Staff Partners Funders Media Coverage In Memoriam
Overview Why Woods Matter Anacostia Park Fort Stanton Park Shepherd Parkway Suitland Parkway Oxon Run Parkway Congress Park Woods Private Lands
George Washington Carver Trail Fort Circle Park Hiker-Biker Trail Proposed Shepherd Parkway Trail Proposed Suitland Parkway Trail
Volunteer Park Stewards Trash Free DC Outdoor Learning Advocacy
Contact Donate
Menu

Trash Free DC

Trash Free DC is a citywide campaign to reduce littering and trash pollution, funded by a grant from the DC Department of Energy and Environment and led byWard 8 Woods.

The Problem

Ward 8 and other low-income DC communities have long suffered from waste-management problems tied to poverty, segregation and disinvestment. Overflows from trash cans and dumpsters blow through parks and woods and washes along gutters into storm drains and streams leading to the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers. 

This litter – mostly bottles, cans, snack wrappers and other food and drink packaging – contaminates soil, water, and air, poisons wildlife, attracts pests, and makes places feel unattractive and unsafe. 

Studies show people more often litter where they already see litter, so areas that are dirty tend to stay that way. Littering is also tied to feelings of powerlessness and lack of ownership among residents struggling just to survive. Proper trash disposal may be the least of their concerns, and any extra effort it requires may not seem worth it.  

The Solutions

We at Ward 8 Woods have been thinking about and acting on these issues for years. That’s why, when DOEE put out a call for creative proposals moving us closer to Trash Free Communities, we stepped up with a list of ideas – and concrete plans to implement them – that earned us the $230,000 grant. 

Solution One: Community Clean-Up

Since seeing others’ litter is often perceived as permission to litter oneself, improving the appearance of high-visibility areas are a necessary first step. Seeing streets looking good after clean-ups, knowing that your neighbors care, can help change perceptions and habits. 

Our Park Stewards and volunteers maintain dozens of blocks in Ward 8 and adjoining areas and support resident-led clean-ups of many more. Through our Adopt Your Woods program, volunteers sign on to adopt areas near their homes; in certain high-litter, high visibility areas, local Paid Maintainers are compensated for this role. 

20211209_154317
Screen Shot 2022-07-31 at 3.40.44 AM
use the can select
table with signs
Revised Your Community nature motfi w8w_Page_2
20220324_182729

Solution Two: Artistic Signage

We commission and install original work by local artists to stimulate thought and conversation on the problem of trash pollution. These artworks draw on slogans from past campaigns that emphasize local power and control, like “Our Community: Clean It, Claim It” and “Take Control. Take Care of Your Trash.” Newer, DC-specific messages like “Trash Doesn’t Go-Go On the Ground” and “Aye Moe! Don’t litter!” were generated by surveys of residents and emphasize humor and local pride.     

Since 2022, we’ve installed more than 200 of these metal signs on utility poles and fences and a thousand lawn signs. To request signage for display at your home or place of business, contact  us at info@ward8woods.org.

 

Solution Three: Start with the Children – School-Based Engagement

Habits formed in childhood last longest, so the best time to promote pro-environment attitudes is in elementary and middle school. In partnership with Recycle Leaders, Ward 8 Woods offers guest lessons, field trips and action research projects for grades K through 12 that focus on sources of trash, how it affects people and the environment, and what they can do to help. Activities include cleaning up school grounds and surrounding areas, creating and installing their own signage, and testing anti-litter messaging and methodology. 

To bring Trash Free Communities to your school, contact us at info@ward8woods.org

Solution Four: Litter Can Lotto

Like “Candid Camera” for our times, in this experimental intervention, Ward 8 Woods staff will post up at street cans in high-litter areas and surprise someone doing the right thing. At unannounced times and places, we will wait to catch people in the act of placing their trash in a can. The first person we see doing it will win a round of Litter Can Lotto and be presented with a $50 grocery gift card. Photos of winners on social media and shared with news media will help get the word out that it (literally, in this case!) pays to not litter.

Solution Five: Waste-Disposal Advocacy
A sure way to cut litter is making waste disposal easy. Ward 8 Wood works with residents and advocates with the DC government to install new street cans, prevent removal of existing ones, and make sure all of them are properly serviced and maintained.

Buildings containing more than four housing units operate under separate rules. Because they do not receive municipal trash collection, their owners must contract with private companies for dumpsters and bins. If they cut costs by providing inadequate or infrequent service, some residents will dispose of trash in streets, parking lots, or adjoining woods. Through building-by-building research, organizing, and advocacy, Ward 8 Woods is working to persuade and require landlords to fix these unsanitary conditions where they occur.