Boston City Councilor Gabriela Coletta is announcing a community trash initiative in District 1 to reduce trash and litter across the neighborhood and foster community pride.

“I’ve heard from many residents about the accumulation of trash. Charlestown, East Boston, and the North End are extremely dense neighborhoods that make them susceptible to more debris and trash build-up. Last Summer, when my office implemented a Summer of Service initiative, my team collected over 80 pounds of trash throughout these neighborhoods. I’m excited to launch this initiative in partnership with the City of Boston, Boston Public Schools, and the community to promote keeping our neighborhoods clean,” said Councilor Gabriela Coletta. “We’re tackling this perennial issue through a multi-layered strategy focusing on litter prevention (barrels), civic education, and trash mitigation (hokies, clean-ups). Let’s stand together against littering and illegal dumping that contribute to air, land, and ocean pollution. We’ll foster community pride while leveraging city resources to ensure that our communities remain bright and beautiful for future generations.”

Councilor Coletta is fighting for additional city resources, such as reviewing and reforming trash contracts, additional funding for the Office of Civic Organizing’s “Love Your Block,” identifying high pedestrian corridors for additional trash barrels, and more staff capacity and resources for rat mitigation. She seeks to promote civic engagement by installing signs across the district promoting beautifying the streets. BPS Students across the district will create signs that residents and businesses can adopt saying “Keep our community beautiful, don’t litter!” in multiple languages.

The initiative seeks to amplify the efforts of various organizations that conduct regular community clean-ups across the district. Over the Spring and Summer, Councilor Gabriela Coletta and her team will work on joining community clean-ups across the district and collaborate with neighborhood groups to assign neighborhood captains to help with ongoing clean-ups.