Air Quality Awareness Week cleanup

The Silver City Pick It Up – Toss No Más program is celebrating Air Quality Awareness Week with
a community litter cleanup on Saturday, May 9th. We invite you to steward our local
environment by joining a community litter cleanup. Litter can contaminate soil, water, and even
our air. You can help protect the health of our community and environment by joining a
community litter cleanup!

Air Quality Awareness Week is an initiative of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that
seeks to increase air quality awareness and encourages people to stay aware of their air quality
and incorporate air quality knowledge into their daily living. Air Quality Awareness Week also
provides an opportunity for people to learn how they can take action to prepare for and
respond to events and environments with poor air quality – not just during the month of May,
but year-round! Silver City Pick It Up – Toss No Más, as part of Gila Resources Information
Project (GRIP), is working to increase air quality awareness in Grant County. Visit air-wise.org to
learn more about our Grant County AIR-WISE project and view live air quality measurements for
your neighborhood!

Volunteers should meet at the Gila Community Foundation parking lot at 1106 North Pope
Street, from 9 am to noon on Saturday, March 15th to grab supplies: trash bags, gloves, trash
pickers, and snacks. Volunteers will then return to the parking lot to drop off all litter and debris
between 11am and noon. We’ll have coffee, donuts, and music for volunteers!
Volunteers should bring a water bottle and wear closed-toe shoes, a sun hat, and sunscreen.
Children 17 and under must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Families with younger
children are encouraged to clean up litter in their neighborhood, local parks or waterways as children under 12 are not permitted on state highways for the cleanup.

Thank you to our partners at the New Mexico Department of Transportation for hauling away
collected trash to the landfill!

Check out the Pick It Up-Toss No Mas website www.silvercitytossnomas.org to sign up to
volunteer and to learn about litter prevention opportunities, the business pledge program,
Adopt-A-Roadway or Waterway program, and solid waste disposal and recycling resources.
Volunteers are the foundation of the Pick It Up – Toss No Mas program. Since October 2021,
over 1,113 volunteers have picked up over 34,237 pounds of trash, debris, and recyclables from
Highways 180 and 90, Silver City neighborhoods, Big Ditch Park and San Vicente Creek.
Thank you to each and every one of our volunteers, organizations, and partners who do all this
work! We are incredibly thankful for the amazing monthly turnouts and support in our
collective effort to keep Silver City clean and beautiful!

Monthly Pick It Up – Toss No Mas clean-up events are held the third Saturday of every month.
Community members can also adopt a roadway or waterway to take care of and clean up
throughout the year. On top of that, Pick It Up – Toss No Mas can provide guidance for those
who would like to put on their own clean up event, helping to supply the trash pickers, trash
bags and gloves for your event.

Pick It Up – Toss No Mas community cleanup events are sponsored by the Town of Silver City,
New Mexico Clean and Beautiful, Silver City Watershed Keepers, Silver City Recycles, Silver City
MainStreet, SWNMACT, Southwest Solid Waste Authority, Silver City-Grant County Chamber of
Commerce, and New Mexico Department of Transportation’s Toss No Mas Program.