Trashtastic Time At Earth Day Clean Up By Way Of Paddle

We have been at it 5 years now and we sure are stoked to see the community continuing to come out and make our back yard even safer and cleaner each and every year.

It's the relentless pursuit of incremental improvement over time that truly effects lasting change. Since we opened our strategy has been to stay at it, and we can honestly say we have seen real progress. The trash hauls, while still large in size, are starting to shrink while the crowds that show up to help clean are only growing. They say the trend is your friend, and this is starting to feel like our new bestie.  

Speaking of friends we have to thank the ones that have been there from the beginning in San Rafael Clean and Marin Sanitation. San Rafael Clean leads a network of programs that are driven to make San Rafael better. By providing resources, coordination, and marketing support they help drive the whole process.

Once you collect all that trash you have to put it somewhere and that's where the team at Marin Sanitary Service steps up. If you are not familiar with the legacy of the Garbarino family they have have been leading from the front since the beginning. Check out this profile of Joe Garbarino on Forces of Nature  - watch it here. We hold multiple clean ups each year and each time they have been there to help us clean up our shared back yard. The leadership of the company has inspired us to change. After listening to the stories of the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce's Garbarino award nominations we took a look inward and started to make some internal and external changes of our own. From simply installing a water fountain to minimize plastic bottles to looking end to end at our supply chain we have come up with great plans to keep the momentum building in a positive direction as we look to minimize our impact on the earth. 

If you aren't familiar with our program we essentially provide free kayak and paddleboard rentals to anyone wanting to paddle the canal and pick up trash. Then with Marin Sanitations help we sort the recoverable resources and process the trash to the dump. We lead multiple efforts through out the year right here at the shop but also provide free rentals for those wanting to lead clean ups at other Bay Area waterside locations. Interested in leading a clean up day of your own with our help? We are in to it so just give us call to set something up.

One special thanks has to go our Marin County legislature. Their forward thinking legislation has effected real change. Case in point; the plastic bag ban legislation. We have witnessed first hand how it has lead to a dramatic reduction in waste making it into the water. What used to be one of our most frequently found items is nearly extinct and good riddance plastic bags!

Thanks to all our customers and friends who show up to help. We had 33 paddlers and one dog on the water making it happen.

With over 300lbs less trash in the canal we know a dent was made. A special nod of thanks to Dominican University who through their Service Day Program are doing what it takes to be good neighbors.

Our next clean up day is Coast Clean up in September and then we will have another in November. But why wait; take us up on our offer and come pay it forward any time.