Stomp Out Litter

Wonderful news: New York City is the cleanest it’s been in over three decades!
Since keeping a city the size of New York clean depends on all of us, credit over this historic achievement will be announced on various subway, bus and other outdoor print ads, encouraging New Yorkers to keep New York City clean. At the same time, Keep America Beautiful (KAB) - the nationwide non-profit organization - took the opportunity to kick off its annual New York City Great American Clean Up.
The Stomp Out Litter (SOL) campaign is a joint effort of the Department of Sanitation, the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, and Waste Management, Inc. in conjunction with Stomp, the long-running New York percussion theatre troupe.
Members of Stomp performed on an outdoor stage, much to the delight of those attending the event launching SOL, as well as countless passers by. Actor Tony Danza, whose father was a Sanitation Worker, cheered on our volunteer cleaners and urged all New Yorkers to Stomp Out Litter.
There was also a brief award ceremony, and a representative from the White House presented two New Yorkers with the President’s Volunteer Service Award. The recipients of this honor were at both ends of the age spectrum. Honored were 104-year-old Queens resident Carl Berner, volunteer par excellence, still working very hard to keep his community of Middle Village clean and 15-year-old Raymart Dinglas, member of the High School of Environmental Studies’ Golden Apple award-winning class, who also volunteers to increase recycling awareness in his school.
The bottom line is that there is always room for improvement: New York City streets and sidewalks could be cleaner.
With this goal in mind, on the first day of spring 2006, from the Military Triangle on Times Square, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and I announced the top 10 ways to Stomp Out Litter and improve cleanliness in our communities and our city:
10 – Participate in neighborhood volunteer clean-up efforts.
9 – Keep your sidewalk and storefront clean.
8 – Don’t toss litter into the street from your vehicle
7 – Don’t pile wrappers or other garbage onto garbage bags awaiting collection.
6 – Don’t throw empty coffee cups into the street - wait for the next litter basket!
5 – Use litter baskets only for pedestrian litter, not household or commercial refuse.
4 – Place garbage for collection in cans with tightly fitting lids, or heavy plastic bags.
3 – Tell your kids that garbage belongs in a garbage can, not on the street or sidewalk.
Better yet, teach them by YOUR example.
2 – Illegal dumping makes neighborhoods look awful and … it is against the law.
In addition, the best way to stomp out litter …
1 – JUST DON’T DO IT!
I encourage you to join this effort in your community and help us Stomp out Litter once and for all.
For more information, call 311 or visit our website at: www.nyc.gov/sanitation.
— John J. Doherty is Commissioner of Sanitation