Blog

Community Effort Yields Incredible Results: 5,000 Pounds of Garbage Removed from Arcata Marsh in 60 Minutes

Last weekend, our community came together to clean up the Arcata Marsh, and the results were truly impressive. In just one hour, we were able to remove over 5,000 pounds of garbage from the area, which translates to about 83.3 pounds per minute, or 138.8 pounds per volunteer! We focused on the tree line along Western and Eastern Pond, an area that has become home to numerous active homeless camps. Leading up to the cleanup, we did some outreach and informed everyone living in the area about our plans and the date of the cleanup. We also distributed roughly three boxes of trash bags to the homeless community, introducing them to our “Socks for Trash” campaign. For each bag they filled up, they received a free pair of socks, with no limit.

When we arrived on Saturday morning, the homeless community had already bagged up almost a 20-yard dumpster’s worth of trash, all staged for us to pick up. The majority of our volunteers were put to work on the large pile of trash, while the rest found other pre-bagged piles of garbage to remove. We loaded all the trash into our PacOut Green Team Rhino and the City of Arcata’s UTV, making “hot laps” to our large dumpster that was staged on “I” street.

The cleanup was a huge success, thanks to the tireless efforts of everyone involved. In addition to removing several thousand pounds of garbage from the “protected” Arcata Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, we were also able to provide some support to the homeless community. By the end of the cleanup, the active homeless community had cleaner camps, and we were able to distribute lots of socks and survival kits to those who helped us out. It was a team effort that showed the power of community spirit. It was great seeing Arcata’s new Mayor, Meredith Matthews out there with us leading by example cleaning up the Arcata Marsh on her first day on the job!

• Volunteers: 36
• Weight: 5000+ lbs (estimated weight) – We completely filled up our 20 yard dumpster! 
• Time: 60 minutes
• Raffle Winners: 6
• Sponsors: STIL Humboldt, Los Bagels, Frankie’s Bagels, Six Rivers Brewery
• Cleanup Collaborators: City of Arcata

Meredith Matthews, the New Mayor of Arcata, Leads by Example on her First Day with Clean Up of Arcata Marsh!

This week’s raffle winners!

Cleanup Location: