Join the Sierra Club Southern Alameda County Group's Grand Trash Tournament for Earth Day 2022, running from April 15th to May 10th, 2022! The pandemic has been rough on our environment, but through this trash pick-up tournament, we have a chance to make our environment a better place.
To participate, you can submit your trash pick-up results in either of two ways: a) Bulk (number of 20-gallon bags) or b) Number of items, documented in photos submitted through the submission link that will be provided to registered participants. 15 participants who meet the minimum submission requirements will be randomly selected to receive $25 gift cards. To participate in the prize drawing, you must collect a minimum of two 20 gallon bags, or a minimum of 400 items. You may pick up trash individually or collectively in a group, but you must submit your results individually.
You can register for the event here. We hope you'll gather some friends (or go it alone!) and join this trash tournament in honor of Earth Day!
RULES FOR GRAND TRASH TOURNAMENT FOR EARTH DAY 2022
- Anyone can participate if they live in one of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. Please register for the event, including at minimum your name, city/county of residence, and email. Please note if you are a Sierra Club member or not, but you can participate either way.
- All pieces of trash can be counted. For example, cigarette butts can be counted because they generate toxic microplastic particles that kill sea life!
- Trash can be collected anywhere, but cannot include your own personal household trash. Especially encouraged is the collecting of plastic bags or plastic of any type, and the collecting of trash from waterway areas, gutters (that flow into the Bay), and beaches/marshes. It would be great to know the general places you collected your trash (though not required for submission), so please keep a little list of the locations.
- Trash can be collected by individuals, or within a collective group event, but each individual needs to submit their own trash collection to participate in the Tournament.
- Trash can be collected any time between the start of the Tournament on April 15, 2022, and its finish on May 10, 2022.
- When collecting trash, please be sure to use the best possible hygiene practices, i.e. use plastic gloves or a plastic bag to collect the items, or a grabber if you have one. Please avoid direct contact between your hands/body and the trash items. Be sure to keep items secure and away from animals and people until you document the trash in a photo (see below for more on photos).
- Choose one of the two ways to submit your collected trash to be included in the Tournament prize drawing:
- Bulk (20-gallon bags): Take a photo of your bag/s, with or without yourself in the photo.
- Number of items: Please take photos of your items in groups of approximately 100 items.
- Once you have documented your trash, please dispose of the items as you would other trash; please recycle whenever possible.
- To participate in the prize drawing, each Earth Day trash collector needs to submit their trash pick-up results by filling out a short submission form that will be provided to registered participants; you will need to upload photos of trash collected (either in bags for Bulk submission, or individual items). The form and trash collection results can be submitted starting May 1, 2022 and up until May 10, 2022. Please note, the latest time to submit this form and your results is midnight, May 10, 2022.
- To participate in the prize drawing, you must have collected a minimum of two 20-gallon bags, or a minimum of 400 items, documented in photos submitted through the submission link.
- Through a random drawing, 15 participants who meet the minimum submission requirements will be selected to receive $25 gift cards.
- Winners and the number of bags/items they collected will be honored through a Sierra Club media announcement. The submission form (see #8 above) will include an option to use either a) both first and last names, or b) first name only and last name initial, in this official announcement of the Sierra Club Trash Tournament winners.
Photo by iStock.com/Viktorcvetkovic