So after being sick with the stomach flu, I returned to work on Friday and headed to the Tidal Basin on Saturday to volunteer at the National Cherry Blossom Festival again. My day was full this time with Downtown DC/Washington Area Bicyclists Association Bike Valet from 9 – 2 and Recycling with the National Park Service from 3 – 6.
Bike Valet
The weather forecast was bleak which I think attributed for the slow start to the day. While it was cold, there was no precipitation and the occasional break in clouds to let the sun shine through. When I left at 2, we parked about 40 bikes which was much slower than the morning the Saturday before. This time I had hand sanitizer, and knock on wood, am not sick!
Recycling
Before volunteering, I told myself that there better be recycle bins because I was not going to stand around and sort piles of trash. While sorting was a little part of it and certainly not a requirement, just a motivational point for the up and coming environmentalist in me 🙂 I was teamed up with a few others not part of a team. I was so impressed by the large number of teams volunteering. I was thinking “garbage duty” would be at the bottom of the volunteer favorites.
Next to many of the newly installed trash cans there were recycle bins. While they were not permanent, the side-by-side positioning definitely helps the environment. Those who are willing to walk to the trash can easily have the option to recycle within arms reach. The number of recyclables in the trash can and trash in the recycle bags was minimal. There however were many more trash cans than recycle bins which is were the environmentalist in me strove to dig those recyclables out of them! It also gave me the opportunity to use my “gripper” to reach down in. It kind of felt like using the crane at the arcade, some bottles were hard to get a hold of.
By this point the sun was shining and I currently have a sun burned face 🙁 Odd how you really don’t notice the sun until you are out of it and looking in the mirror. I mention this because I get a little weird at this point. I made it look like I was trying to “catch” something in the trash can. “Gotcha” I would say as I stabbed and grabbed another recyclable 🙂
I had a great time and may look at volunteering next weekend. It is really great to see how many recyclables were separated, knowing that it takes….
- 1 Million Years for Glass to decompose with plastic and aluminum up there as well!
