In January, the new Clean City Initiative collected from parks, streets and business districts over 1,000,000 pounds of garbage, and over 26,000 used needles, for proper disposal. Through deliberate trash collection and enhanced maintenance programs, over 60 locations across Seattle (including Fremont) saw a removal of the debris and refuse that has blighted our neighborhoods.
“The Clean City Initiative has increased our focus on removing trash… for our businesses, schools, neighborhoods and residents. We have much more work ahead to deliver for our residents and businesses,” said Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. “Thank you to the many hard-working City employees who are getting our city cleaned up, in partnership with our neighborhood businesses and residents.”
An investment of $3 million dollars, into new and existing programs to clean up litter across the city, is at the center of the Clean City Initiative. It pulls together, and expands, efforts by Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle Parks & Recreation, and the Seattle Department of Transportation to address a maintenance backlog. It also added additional litter routes, weekly focuses on certain parks and neighborhoods, and increased trash pick-up from encampments and RV parking areas. Clean City also ramped up needle collection efforts.
“We cherish our parks, and so I’m pleased to see our Clean City Initiative boosting removal of graffiti, garbage, and needles,” observed Seattle City Councilmember Alex Pedersen (for District #4.) “Litter and illegal dumping have increased in our beautiful city during the pandemic… The challenge is enormous, but having multiple departments working together to clean up our city is the kind of back-to-basics approach Seattle desperately needs to emerge stronger than ever.”
The Clean City Initiative provides a surge of litter pick-up and maintenance, scheduled to continue through April 2021. To learn more, visit Seattle.gov/clean-city. If there is litter, trash, needles, or illegal dumped materials near you, please report it via the City of Seattle Find It, Fix It App (click here,) or call 206/684-2489(CITY).