MANKATO — It’s time for Mankato area residents to start thinking about pitching in to make their little piece of the planet more pristine during Earth Day/Week/Month.
With volunteer opportunities beginning in less than a month, nonprofit organizations and the city of Mankato are busy promoting their specific environmental improvement initiatives.
Trash teamwork
Earth Day this year is Wednesday, April 22, but the Deep Valley Trash Cleanup is the previous Saturday, which many environmentalists see as the first day of Earth Week.
The Deep Valley Trash Cleanup is a lighthearted “competition” sponsored each spring by Key City Bike, Living Earth Center and Blue Earth Project. Beginning at 10 a.m., two-person teams have two hours to gather as much litter and trash as possible from riverside trails, parks and neighborhoods. Winners are determined and prizes awarded at a noon weigh-in of the total trash bagged by each team.
“Invite your friends and family — meet at Key City Bike at 10 a.m. to register in teams of two,” advises Key City’s Facebook page. “Don’t worry if you don’t have a buddy yet when you get here. Folks will scour the areas of the river trail, river parks, and neighborhoods closest to the river where the trash is most likely to impact our watershed in the next few months. We’ll provide a map.”
Recyclable litter, properly sorted, counts double during the weigh-in.
“Last year a whopping 700 lbs of litter was collected,” according to Key City Bike.
The event begins and ends at Key City Bike, 204 E. Vine St. with registration scheduled for 10 a.m.
Although the environmental organizations provide a limited amount of supplies such as gloves, safety vests, trash bags, buckets and wagons, volunteers are encouraged to wear grubby clothes and bring items for carrying the trash they collect, such as buckets, bike trailers, strollers, wagons, bungee cords and more.
Give or take
A week before picking up waste, people can take steps to reduce it.
Mankato Area Zero Waste will be hosting its “Free Give & Take Exchange” on April 10 and 11 for people looking to declutter and those in need of free items.
The volunteer-run organization is beginning its 11th year of working to reduce, reuse and recycle products and materials to ease the overwhelming amounts of waste and plastic production effecting the environment and the climate.
“We invite people to donate useable items they no longer want on Friday the 10th with a drop-off period staffed with helpers from 4-7 p.m. at the second floor employee entrance of the Vine Adult Community Center, 421 E. Hickory, in Mankato,” Mankato Area Zero Waste announced in a press release. “The items will be displayed on Saturday, the 11th, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for anyone attending to select for free.”
Last year’s event included 30 tables of items, according to the organization: “By the end of the event on Saturday, 90% of donated items were taken home for free by 290 people. The remaining 10% of items were taken to other organizations or thrift stores to be reused or recycled. One featured category was prom dresses. There were 36 of them donated, 21 selected and the remaining 15 were taken to our local library for further display. In short, it was a very satisfying event for givers, takers, planners and the planet.”
Mankato city cleanup
Volunteers are being recruited to clean up Mankato’s parks and stormwater retention ponds on Earth Day and the six days preceding it.
The city website includes details on the program and a sign-up page for individuals and groups looking to participate. The deadline for signup is April 14.
Participants will be directed to a location and provided with needed equipment such as gloves, safety vests and trash bags and a map showing where to go and where to leave litter-filled trash bags to be collected later by city staff. The last day to signup for volunteering is April 14.