Editor:

Now that the latest round of elections is past us, and there is a bit of a break before November, I hope we’ll all refocus for the moment on taking our forever campaign of keeping SF clean to that next level. While your one vote matters and the political process is important, there’s so much more we can do as San Franciscans to make our city/community even better. Many of our volunteers aren’t’ even old enough to vote, but they’re demonstrating how anyone can make a difference. It’s absolutely amazing what we’ve already accomplished with over 2,200 cleanups organized, 550,000 gallons of trash removed, and 11,000 unique volunteers who have joined a cleanup; but we want even more!

I’ll be hosting another virtual presentation of “SF Trash Talk” on Tuesday, March 19 from 7-7:45 p.m. The presentation lasts about 20-minutes followed by Q&A. We discuss why SF is so dirty (and it legit is), why it matters, possible solutions, and what we as individuals can to do about it. Spoiler alert: cleanups, because they work. Fill out this Google Form to receive the Zoom link and meeting invite.

You’re all invited to my Trashy Birthday Cleanup on Saturday, March 23 from 1-3 p.m. in the Richmond neighborhood. I got the inspiration from another volunteer who organized one and this will be the third year I’ve hosted a birthday cleanup. I hope you can make it and celebrate a clean neighborhood with me.

Lastly, I’d like to put the call out again for empty canned good cans that we repurpose into Butt-Cans and place out as ashtrays for smokers. We’re working hard behind the scenes on legislation to ban filtered cigarette sales in CA, but these things take time and are difficult to accomplish against a very entrenched and resourced tobacco industry. So, in the meantime, we’ll take a more passive approach by encouraging people to properly dispose of their butts in our conveniently placed butt-cans. Please rinse and save any cans you use, then email me when you have a good amount and we can coordinate the handoff.

Thank you all for protecting our environment and supporting our community. The vision of a cleaner San Francisco comes more into focus with each cleanup. Just keep showing up.

Vince Yuen
Refuse Refuse