"Nobody Trashes Tennessee" - TDOT sponsored litter removal campaign
Green What?
That is what some of us were wondering at the June chamber meeting when Alyssa Grizenko, Executive Director of Greensteps Chattanooga, introduced herself. She had come at the invitation of Mayor Jackson to hear Laura Williams, Tennessee Department of Transportation Environmental Outreach Coordinator, talk about the new litter prevention campaign recently launched by TDOT. You’ll be hearing more about “Nobody Trashes Tennessee” in the months to come. But back to Greensteps . . .
“Greensteps is a community focused initiative that incentivizes the act of picking up and throwing away litter around popular trails, crags, parks and tourist destinations in and around the Chattanooga area”. You can even accumulate points for prizes. Okay, are you starting to feel a little warm and fuzzy inside but not actually good yet? Stick with us . . .
During the chamber meeting, Alyssa announced that Greensteps was organizing a clean-up event along a stretch of Suck Creek Mountain in Marion County and that volunteers would be picking up trash there on June 25th. That’s nice. We wondered how they did . . .
Email from Alyssa + pictures says it all:
“The event went better than expected. Over 60 people showed up and together we collected around 200 bags of trash, a toilet, a baby car seat, chicken wire and a lot of tires. I have attached some photos to this email. Thank you and Mayor Jackson for your support, and I will send you pictures of the stations (trash bin and trash bag dispenser), once they are installed, which should be today.”
A toilet! That’s disgusting. So, we could concentrate on those that litter and why. There’s a time and a place for that. But for today, let’s concentrate on good citizens like the Greensteps volunteers who care enough to pick up trash regardless of where it came from. Since the chamber began our own litter prevention campaign, examples of caring people are popping up everywhere. From little children to senior citizens, there are people who “Help Keep Marion County Beautiful.”
Thanks to all of you with a special thanks today to Greensteps!
Judy Blevins, Administrative Assistant, Marion County Chamber of Commerce
