Tulane University and Loyola University partnered with Keep Louisiana Beautiful for World Cleanup Day on Sept. 20, and gathered 395 pounds of waste. The universities’ environmental programs sent 240 students and local volunteers to five nearby areas.
Volunteers removed 379 pounds of litter and collected 16 pounds of recycling, according to an Instagram post by Green Tulane.
“It’s a tangible thing. People get to come out and do something within their community, and bridging the two universities’ students is a really great process too,” Mark Tobler, director of Keep Loyola Beautiful said.
Before volunteers began the cleanup, environmental organizations promoted their other sustainability efforts. Energy Smart, Pontchartrain Conservancy, Trash to Treasure and SOUL Nola tabled on Loyola’s Greenville Hall Lawn, where the event took place.
“New Orleans lost about 200,000 trees in Katrina and its aftermath, and so we have way lower tree canopy than similar cities like Savannah or Charleston,” said Ellen Rogers, SOUL Nola communications coordinator. “So we’re just trying to get trees back into the neighborhoods that lost them and lower the heat index and lower the energy costs.”
The event also encouraged sustainability by exclusively using reusable cups for all drinks and snowballs served at the event.
“Tulane and Loyola started collecting Mardi Gras cups in different locations on campus. A local middle school heard about the drive and got their kids in the Beta Club involved,” President of the Green Club Sarah Green said. “In less than a week, they collected over 200 cups.”
Tulane’s Office of Sustainability and the Green Club helped organize the event, as well.
“I love sustainability, and I feel like so often it’s very easy to get overwhelmed, because it feels like every time you turn on the news, a lot of things are going wrong,” Green said. “There’s all sorts of different things you can do, but I think, like the nitty gritty, picking up trash and getting dirty… it just feels substantial.”
The event leaders emphasized Tulane and Loyola’s role in being “good neighbors” to the local New Orleans neighborhood.
“I think that’s one of our favorite parts about it, kind of putting ourselves in touch with where we are, where we work, or where we live or where we play, but being a part of the maintenance of that space,” said Jordan Stewart, director of sustainability at Tulane and university affiliate of Keep Louisiana Beautiful.