If you’re reading this article, you’re either a person who wants to know more about how they can keep their public park clean and tidy, or someone who is responsible for keeping a park sparkling clean. Either way, we’re here to help, with plenty of tips for how you can divide and conquer the tricky task of keeping a public space clean. The importance of clean parks can’t be understated. Let’s get going.

Tip 1: Paperwork and permissions

This mainly applies to being a volunteer cleaner. If you’re going to be doing any sort of organized public cleaning effort, you need to make sure that you’re not doing anything illegal. This is unlikely, as most cities will be very happy that you’re showing civic involvement in attempting to organize a community clean up. If it’s just yourself, you likely don’t need permission to head over to a public park and start removing trash.

But, if you’re working with volunteers, it’s a good idea to give the city a heads-up so they can make potential resources available to you (for instance, large trash bins that the city might have access to).

Tip 2: Equipment

You’re going to have a hard time getting your cleanup project off the ground without the right equipment. But this doesn’t have to be high tech. Some gloves and a trash bag will often do the trick. If you want to get fancier, pick up a trash picker so you can snag things off the ground without having to bend over.

If you’re trying to set up a good sanitation solution for a public space, trash cans are an important part of that too. Luckily, if you’re reading this blog, finding the right cans (or maybe even rolling trash cans) is just a click away.

Tip 3: Divide and conquer (take it piece by piece)

Like most big projects, cleaning a large public area can be an intimidating prospect. How to take care of public parks is a daunting task. But, it doesn’t have to be scary. Just like any big project, divide it up into smaller pieces, and then start handling them one by one.

If you’re organizing a public cleanup with a bunch of volunteers or several employees, taking a map of the park and dividing it up into sectors and tackling each sector one at a time can be extraordinarily helpful in knowing what you have to do and where you have to go.

Then, it’s just a matter of going to each sector, and starting to pick up and clean. Good ol’ elbow grease!

Tip 4: Set a schedule

If you’re a government employee organizing regular park cleanup, setting a schedule is essential. Utilizing online cloud-based tools like Google Sheets can be a barebones and easy way to keep checklists and schedules synced between employees, to ensure that you (presumably the manager) are informed about what is and isn’t being cleaned on a given day. If you’re building a schedule, here are some helpful things to include and track for each public park:

• Specific tasks and the days of the week they need to be done, with appropriate boxes for employees to initial when they have done it. Examples include:
  • Emptying trash cans
  • Picking up litter
  • Cleaning playground equipment, benches, etc.
  • Trimming grass, hedges, etc.
• Materials and supplies that are needed to do the various tasks, and a running inventory of those supplies, so employees or volunteers can request as needed.
• A maintenance schedule tracking appropriate maintenance of tools and equipment.

Tip 5: Get help

If you’re organizing a volunteer effort to clean up a public park, it’s a pretty big task for one person. If you’re just out there by your lonesome, maybe just a quick sweep for excess litter with a trash bag is the way to go. But, if you want to go bigger, it’s time to get other people involved.

Again, let the city know what you’re planning so they can make additional resources available to you, and then start advertising your park cleanup locally and on social media. Just a few volunteers can make a park cleanup go from a slog to a fun and exciting event.

Tip 6: Plan an event

As far as making cleaning up the park an event goes, you can go as big or small as you like. People love feeling connected and involved with their community, so organizing a park cleanup can be a super fun way to get everyone involved. It’s a great way to showcase the importance of keeping public places clean.

If you’re just doing a small shindig, the suggestions above about small advertisements locally and social media is probably enough. But, if you want to organize a much larger event, you could incorporate fundraising for a local non-profit or even go so far as to team up to pair another event with the cleanup, like a 5K run. It all depends upon your level of enthusiasm for the project.

Think about the future

How do you keep a park safe? Keep it clean. One of the great things about a clean space is that it offers almost unlimited possibilities. Remember to keep that in mind, and that this clean space can easily get messed up again in no time. So, if you’re in charge of keeping a park clean, plan for the future by having enough trash bins and recycling bins for waste, and ensuring that you’re following the other tips above. The best way to keep a public space clean is by being proactive, rather than reactive.

Trashcans Unlimited has enormous supplies of trash cans for every type of public space, from large to small parks. Browse our collection of outdoor trash cans to find the right thing for your space, and get in touch with us if you have any questions.