Our first season of volunteer cleanups with local apparel company United By Blue was a huge success, and we're excited to start another round this spring.

In 2016, nearly 1,000 volunteers joined PWD , United By Blue, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation and other partners at 15 clean ups to remove nearly 33 tons of trash from waterfront green spaces like Bartram's Garden and Penn Treaty Park.

These gatherings—usually scheduled for weekday evenings and followed by happy hour events—are a fun way to take care of our parks and waterways, and they have a real impact. Getting 66,000 pounds of trash and litter off our shorelines doesn't just make these cherished parks look better—that's 66,000 less pounds of things like plastic bags and bottles that can harm the aquatic wildlife calling those places home.

We also like to think of these cleanups as good opportunities for people who care about our parks and watersheds to network and raise awareness about the need to turn the tide in Philly's fight against litter.

Given Mayor Jim Kenney's recent creation of the “Zero Waste and Litter Cabinet,” it's clear that our city is ready to take that fight to a whole new level, and these cleanups are a great way for citizens to pitch in.

The 2017 kickoff cleanup is set for March 7 and will once again take place at Bartram's Garden and we'll be teaming up with honeygrow, the Fairmount Park Conservancy and Parks and Recreation. RSVP now.

Now is also a good a time to start planning a Love Your Park cleanup with Parks and Recreation, which will start their week of volunteer events starting May 13. (We hope to have some news about cleanups at parks with Green City, Clean Waters installations soon.)

Future cleanups with United By Blue are scheduled for the following dates, but be sure to check back for new events:

March 7
Bartram's Garden, Lindbergh Blvd.
RSVP here 

April 4
Cobbs Creek at 61st and Baltimore
RSVP here

May 2
Delaware River at Penn Treaty Park
RSVP here

June 6
The Lakes at FDR Park
UnitedbyBlue.com/Fdr2017

We hope to see you soon!

We'll be posting about more cleanups, like the annual Schuylkill Scrub events, here and on social media, so take a second to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.