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Man using power tools to build a picnic table

2024 Green Grants Award #20: Richmond Community ToolBank

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Man using power tools to build a picnic tableCongratulations to the Richmond Community ToolBank for their $1,000 Green Grants award for their Community Trash Grabber Program for Litter Prevention!

Richmond ToolBank serves community-based organizations by providing tools, equipment, and expertise to empower their most ambitious goals.  Their flagship program is the ToolBank Tool Lending program.  Through this program, they provide access to over 10,000 tools to community-based organizations that do important work in Central Virginia that would otherwise not be feasible without these tools.

The Community Trash Grabber Program will empower community organizations to tackle litter and cigarette waste in parks, neighborhoods, schools, and other community spaces. This program removes a financial barrier for organizations and community groups by waiving the tool handling fees for trash grabbers, vests, and pop-up trash cans specifically for projects aimed at picking up litter and cigarette waste. ToolBank will promote this program through newsletters, social media, and postings around their warehouse.

All Richmond ToolBank tool orders are placed through their system which records the number of volunteers’ equipment, project size, and location. Through this system, reports can be easily pulled to track how many participants are participating, where, and what equipment they have.  They expect this to be a widely-used program among our current member organizations. Trash grabbers are one of our most popular items that we lend out at ToolBank, and with a higher inventory we can equip more projects and volunteers in and around Richmond.

With funds provided by the Green Grants award, Richmond ToolBank will purchase 60 sturdy trash grabbers and 16 pop-up trash cans.  These tools will provide groups with a safe and efficient way to host a litter cleanup, and will empower community organizations to tackle litter and cigarette waste in parks, neighborhoods, schools, and other community spaces. The program removes a financial barrier for organizations and community groups by waiving the tool handling fees for trash grabbers, vests, and pop-up trash cans specifically for projects aimed at picking up litter and cigarette waste.

The Trash Grabber Program will strengthen Richmond ToolBank’s commitment to empowering communities. By addressing litter issues, the program aligns with our mission of supporting neighborhood revitalization and fostering civic engagement.

Thank you for the work you’re doing, and help others to do, in your community!

Grabbers Pic Square

Cleanup Kit Giveaway!

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As we find ourselves in times full of uncertainty,
we can find peace in the things we can control.
Litter is one of them. Be a part of the solution!

Are you ready to take control of your corner of the world to tackle the litter problem?  We want to help you get started!  We’re giving away ten Cleanup Kits this month!  Each Kit has six trash grabbers, trash bags, recycling bags, gloves, and a scale to measure your accomplishments!  We will choose ten names from all those entered on or before July 31st and ship a kit directly to them. Just enter your name on the form, and tell us what you hope to do if you receive a Cleanup Kit!

Litter prevention and litter abatement are areas where we have control over our behavior, one that can have a serious impact on our environment.  Litter isn’t just a messy bad habit, it affects our health and the communities where we live.

We can prevent litter by properly disposing or recycling our food containers.  We can bring re-usable produce bags to the store instead of using the single-use plastic bags they provide.  We can recycle our drive-through coffee cup, our Amazon boxes, and our plastic bottles.  Better yet, learn more about Plastic Free July!

We can pick up litter in our neighborhoods, parking lots, and public parks.  Being mindful of COVID restrictions, we can clean up the landscape with our family members, or join others at a social distance. Use gloves and grabbers to avoid contact with litter.  And remember that PPE is not recyclable, littered masks and gloves must go in the trash.  Need inspiration?  Check out the Great American Cleanup® to see what you can do to help!

And if you’re an Adopt-a-Highway permit holder, have your group spread out, or go at alternate times to clean up the road you’ve adopted.  If you haven’t volunteered to adopt a highway – why not join?  Learn more about Adopt-a-Highway, it’s free and easy to accomplish.

What are you doing about litter?  We’d love to hear about the Beautiful things that are going on in communities all across the Commonwealth.  And don’t forget to take the pledge to promise not to litter!