While CarbonCure is best known for its carbon removal technologies and solutions for sustainable concrete, this Earth Day, our team wanted to take concrete action to remove litter from our local communities!
To celebrate Earth Day 2022, we organized a company-wide trash cleanup initiative. CarbonCure employees—along with their families and friends—were invited to collect as much litter as they could find in their local parks or neighbourhoods and recycle or discard it appropriately.
The team members who bagged the most litter (measured in standard 13-gallon trash bags) were awarded the opportunity to direct a $500 CarbonCure donation to the climate- or sustainability-focused charity of their choice.
Earth Day CarbonCure Cleanup
In honor of Earth Day, CarbonCure decided to take part in the Great Global Cleanup. Groups of CarbonCure employees across North America gave up their spare time to rid their local parks, forests and neighborhoods of litter. The initiative was a huge success with nearly 250 gallons of trash collected over the first two weeks of April.
Two Nova Scotia-based engineering project managers teamed up to clean up their community: Shelby Reid and Caleb Steele coordinated visits to several local parks and collected discarded face masks, coffee cups and other trash—including a suitcase full of clothes that they retrieved from a stream! Shelby and Caleb even hosted a post-cleanup party with a barbecue and games.
Overall, Shelby and Caleb gathered approximately 6.5 bags of litter from their local parks and became the clear arbiters of the $500 donation.
“We discussed some environmental-based charities and decided to send CarbonCure’s donation to the Ecology Action Centre that does amazing work in Nova Scotia,” said Shelby.
The Ecology Action Centre is a member-based environmental charity in Nova Scotia that takes leadership on critical environmental issues from biodiversity protection and climate change to environmental justice. The organization just marked its 50th anniversary.
Cleanup Highlights
Mike Carter-Conneen, Takoma Park, MD
Mike and his children (ages 2 and 4) collected 2.5 bags of litter from local parks around their neighborhood.
“The weirdest items we found included a brand new kickball—which we recycled by dropping it at a nearby playground—and a bag of hardened Asphalt Repair, presumably abandoned by a city road crew!”
Angelo Anolin, Edmonton, AB
Angelo and his family braved the cold Alberta weather to collect two bags of litter from a local park.
“I was able to persuade the young ones to do some litter pick up but the allure of the nearby playground was too tempting so I completed the task myself.”
Rhett Dunlap, Nashville, TN
Rhett collected two full bags of litter and a car’s bumper skid plate!
“Sadly all this litter was collected on my street and in the alley behind it—all within a couple of blocks of my house.”
Mairi McKinnon and Partner, Halifax, NS
Mairi and her partner Isaac—and their dog Cleo—collected two bags from the South End of Halifax.
“It was a beautiful day for picking up trash, but scary how quickly we acquired two full bags!”
Rachel Evans and Josh Hinkle, Cañon City, CO
Rachel and Josh gathered several bags at their local Pathfinder Regional Park along the beautiful Arkansas River.
“It was great to clean up an area the entire community frequents. Even better, everything we picked up was prevented from entering our waterways that provide precious drinking water.”
Greg Laviolette and Family, Victoria, BC
Greg, Caralyn and Lauren Laviolette collected two bags of litter over the Easter holiday weekend from the Bear Mountain Loop hiking trail near Mission in British Columbia.
“We had an Easter Egg hunt in the morning and a garbage hunt in the afternoon!”
To learn more about Earth Day and what you can do to make a positive difference on our planet, visit earthday.org.
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