Plastic Free July 2026
This July, we’re encouraging our Silver City community to increase their independence from plastics. Plastic Free July is an annual reminder to evaluate your household’s consumption of plastic products, identify easy choices you can make to reduce future plastic purchases, and re-use plastics before throwing this valuable, non-renewable resource into the trash. Only 8% of plastic containers and packing materials are recycled in New Mexico. What a waste! We may be able to recover and recycle some of these plastics, but only if they make it to UV-protected repositories like communal landfills. You can help our community this July: say no to a single-use plastic and join a community litter cleanup on Saturday, July 18th! From 9 am – noon, join fellow Pick It Up–Toss No Más volunteers to work together to clean roads, public spaces, and waterways around Silver City.
Clean-up volunteers should meet at the Gila Community Foundation parking lot at 1106 North Pope Street, from 9 am to noon on Saturday, July 18th to grab supplies: trash bags, gloves, trash pickers, and refreshments. Volunteers will then return to the parking lot to drop off all litter and debris between 11am and noon.
Plastic Free July is an annual reminder to reduce our plastic consumption. Using less plastic helps protect our environment while conserving a valuable, non-renewable resource. Petroleum-based plastics are uniquely durable, heat-resistant, and reliable, making them essential for medical equipment, transportation, plumbing, electrical systems, and the clean energy infrastructure that will power our future. Rather than using these valuable materials for single-use items like straws, plastic wrap, and disposable containers, we can all make small changes that help preserve them for the uses that matter most. Visit PlasticFreeJuly.org for simple tips that make it easy to reduce your plastic use:
Clean-up 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 supporting state-wide cleanup events and for hauling litter collected at Pick It Up–Toss No Más events to the landfill!
Check out the Pick It Up-Toss No Más 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 Más program. Since October 2021, over 1,187 volunteers have picked up over 35,232 pounds of trash, debris, and recyclables from Highways 180 and 90, Silver City neighborhoods, Big Ditch Park, San Vicente Creek, Pinos Altos Creek, and other urban riparian areas.
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 Más 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 Que Linda Program.
