Asheville Greenworks Home

Adopt-a-Street cleanup on Hill Street

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

AGW’s new Volunteer Coordinator Alex Martin worked with Chamber of Commerce Adopt-a-Street volunteers to clean up Hill Street on August 20. Working with Alex were Dianna Pierce, Tim Lee, Carli Adams and 5 other Chamber staff. They set a great example for other Adopt-a-Street groups by doing very regular cleanups. They picked up 10 bags of trash and recyclables.

Tops for Shoes receives August Environmental Excellence Award

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Occupying nearly half a block In the heart of downtown Asheville, Tops for Shoes is well-known to residents and visitors alike. It receives our August Environmental Excellence Award for outstanding flowers and street cleanup.

Keep North Asheville Recycling Center clean!

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

North Asheville’s recycling center, off Merrimon Avenue behind Asheville Pizza and Brewing, is a great community resource. Please don’t use it as a dumping ground for old furniture, household waste and other non-recyclable trash: these need to go to the Buncombe County landfill on Panther Branch Road, or be picked up by appointment. Dumping non-recyclable waste isn’t just a misuse of the facility: it’s also illegal: report dumping by calling the DOT hotline, Swat-A-Litterbug, at 1-877-368-4968.

NeighborWoods grant used to start urban forest at Deaverview Apartments

Friday, October 30th, 2009

A group of Home Depot employees and several youth volunteers teamed up with Asheville GreenWorks to plant what will become an urban forest at Deaverview Apartments as part of a $10,000 NeighborWoods grant from the Alliance for Community Trees and the Home Depot Foundation that Asheville GreenWorks received this year.

The Asheville Citizen-Times covered the event in today’s paper, with several great photographs in a collection here.

The event included “about two dozen Home Depot associates volunteering their time Thursday to help Asheville GreenWorks plant more than 100 oak, dogwood and fruit trees and 60 holly shrubs at the West Asheville public housing complex.”

Thank you to these volunteers who donated time and energy into cleaning and greening Asheville with us!

A little rain didn’t keep us off the river – NC Big Sweep 2009 a success

Monday, October 12th, 2009

The NC Big Sweep press release, hot off the Asheville GreenWorks desk:

Asheville GreenWorks Volunteers Clean the French Broad River

Asheville GreenWorks, RiverLink, 1-800-GOT-JUNK and Asheville Outdoor Center were partners in arranging this year’s annual river cleanup, the NC Big Sweep on Saturday. Pepsi was an event sponsor.

Around 120 volunteers cleaned the French Broad River and its banks on both sides, starting at Hominy Creek and working up to the Broadway/Riverside intersection. It was a stretch of over six miles & they worked in canoes, johnboats & waders.

Volunteers discovered a site where people have dumped tires, just off Pearson Bridge Road and Riverside, right next to the river. They removed 25 tires, but approximately 100 remain. Dumping is illegal.

Volunteers also found several TVs, many large children’s plastic toys and many more tires throughout the stretch of river. Around one-fourth of the debris pulled from the river is recyclable. Asheville GreenWorks volunteers have had these items recycled.

The total weight of the trash was 3,440 pounds and the recycling total was 380 pounds. An additional truckload of debris (tires and other large items) has not been weighed.

Asheville GreenWorks, a Keep America Beautiful affiliate, has organized Buncombe County’s participation in this international cleanup effort for over 15 years.

Buncombe County’s cleanup is part of the annual NC Big Sweep, which in turn is part of the International Coastal Cleanup, a global effort to rid our environment of debris. According to Ocean Conservancy, who created the International Coastal Cleanup, North Carolina had the third largest number of volunteers in the nation in 2008. Only California and Florida had more volunteers than North Carolina. In 2008, NC Big Sweep had more than 18,000 volunteers.

These waterways cleanups are important because litter can last hundreds of years in our environment. Before it decomposes, litter can hurt our economy. Businesses don’t want to locate in trashy areas. Tourists won’t linger, won’t spend money, won’t return and will discourage others from visiting.

Litter is a human health hazard. It attracts disease-carrying mosquitoes and rodents. As litter decomposes, it leaches chemicals into our groundwater. People are injured by accidentally stepping on litter.

Ashvegas features press release for NC Big Sweep river cleanup this Saturday

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

Our friend Jason over at Ashvegas blog has been actively reminding folks about Asheville GreenWorks’ NC Big Sweet River Cleanup coming up this Saturday, October 10 from 9AM-1PM.

You can check this link for the full press release or read on below.

” This Saturday, October 10, volunteers will clean the French Broad River, starting at the Asheville Outdoor Center at 521 Amboy Road. Asheville GreenWorks, a Keep America Beautiful affiliate, has organized Buncombe County’s participation in this international cleanup effort for over 15 years.

Buncombe County’s cleanup is part of the annual NC Big Sweep, which in turn is part of the International Coastal Cleanup, a global effort to rid our environment of debris. According to Ocean Conservancy, who created the International Coastal Cleanup, North Carolina had the third largest number of volunteers in the nation in 2008. Only California and Florida had more volunteers than North Carolina. In 2008, NC Big Sweep had more than 18,000 volunteers.

In 2008, 250 Asheville GreenWorks volunteers removed 10,000 pounds of trash, debris and tires from the French Broad and Swannanoa Rivers.
The top 10 items found during the 2008 NC Big Sweep were cigarettes, food wrappers and containers, plastic beverage bottles, bags, beverage cans, glass beverage bottles, caps and lids, plates and eating utensils, straws and stirrers, and building materials. More than 85 percent of all debris retrieved by volunteers in North Carolina were these top 10 items.
Among the more unusual finds were false teeth, a briefcase, fire hydrants, a pink horseshoe, explosives, a bag of money, EKG tags, and a cement-filled wheelbarrow.

These waterways cleanups are important because litter can last hundreds of years in our environment. Before it decomposes, litter can hurt our economy. Businesses don’t want to locate in trashy areas. Tourists won’t linger, won’t spend money, won’t return and will discourage others from visiting.

Litter is a human health hazard. It attracts disease-carrying mosquitoes and rodents. As litter decomposes, it leaches chemicals into our groundwater. People are injured by accidentally stepping on litter.

“Litter is deadly to wildlife when they eat or become entangled in it,” said Judy Bolin, NC Big Sweep president. “Last year, 23 entangled animals were found during the Big Sweep cleanups.” “

Event details: Saturday, October 10, 2009. 9AM-1PM. Meet at Asheville Outdoor Center, 521 Amboy Road. Bring boats, kayaks, canoes and comfortable shoes! See you at the river!

NC Big Sweep River Cleanup

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Calling all volunteers! Volunteers can sign up to help with our big annual river cleanup through October 2nd.

Meet us for the NC Big Sweep on Saturday, October 10, at 9am at the Asheville Outdoor Center, 521 Amboy Road. We’ll work until approximately 1pm. We’ll clean by boat and on land. If you have a boat, please bring it! We’ll provide all supplies, plus drinking water and snacks.

Call 254-1776 or email volunteer@ashevillegreenworks.org to sign up.

For those who don’t participate at Asheville Outdoor Center, but wish to make a difference: If you clean up any waterway on that day, please get in touch to let us know how much debris you removed! And, please call beforehand for our list of safety tips.

Last year we removed 10,000 pounds of debris — what will we cleanup this year?

Asheville GreenWorks’ Graffiti Clean-up hits Ashvegas Blog

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

More great coverage of last Saturday’s Community Graffiti Removal Day.

Check us out on the fabulous Ashvegas blog.

Citizen-Times Coverage of our Community Graffiti Removal Day

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Nearly 20 volunteers joined Asheville GreenWorks for our Community Graffiti Removal Day this past Saturday, September 19th. Take a look at Asheville Citizen-Times for some great event coverage.

ASHEVILLE VOLUNTEERS ERASE VANDALS’ GRAFFITI

By Dale Neal • September 20, 2009 12:15 AM

ASHEVILLE — Larry Holt climbed a ladder Saturday, ready to erase the tag of the graffiti vandal “Kyle,” who defaced the brick wall at the back of Fiore’s restaurant on College Street.

Holt aimed a few squirts of the strong “Taginator” solvent, and then climbed down to aim a high-pressure water jet at the graffiti.

“Look, it’s gone already,” said Susan Roderick, executive director of Asheville GreenWorks.

Holt, a member of the GreenWorks board, joined Roderick and about 16 community volunteers who fanned out across downtown in an ongoing battle against the urban blight that defaces businesses and buildings.

Dwight Butner, owner of Vincenzo’s restaurant, thanked volunteers who cleared about a 30-foot scrawl of spray paint from the side of his building. “You can’t even tell it was there,” he said.

Volunteers also cleaned up the Musician’s Workshop and the building that once housed The Hop on Merrimon Avenue as well as vandalized sites on Page Avenue and down at Carrier Park.

Vandals are quick to strike again once an area has been cleared.

“It’s like a clean canvas to them,” said businessman Don Boone.

But a new nuisance court set up to prosecute vandals more swiftly could help cut down on the problem. Holt said he and other members of the Downtown Asheville Residents Association are eager to attend the first session this week to see the results.

“Graffiti is not art,” Roderick said. “It’s a crime defacing private property.”

Under the “broken window” theory, Roderick said that defaced property has consequences of causing people to litter more and more crime to occur.

“Everybody in the downtown has this problem. We want to show respect for our community,” Butner said.

Police say most of the graffiti in Asheville doesn’t seem to be gang-related, according to Allison McGehee, a Greenworks volunteer coordinator. “It’s boredom, more than anything. The best way to combat graffiti is to cover it within 48 hours and keep it covered. That way the vandals don’t get the satisfaction of seeing their ‘tag’ long enough to make it worth the trouble.”

The problem has escalated in the past three years, Butner said. He would support an ordinance requiring businesses to remove any graffiti within 72 hours, “so long as the businesses have a free or low-cost way of removing it.”

Butner said he didn’t want to see the victims of graffiti fined while the perpetrators escape punishment.

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Graffiti Clean-Up coverage in Asheville Citizen-Times

Friday, September 18th, 2009

Check out Citizen-Times’ coverage of our upcoming Community Graffiti Removal Day!

VOLUNTEERS TAKE AIM AT ASHEVILLE GRAFFITI

By Jon Ostendorff • September 18, 2009 12:15 AM

ASHEVILLE — Volunteers will spend Saturday getting rid of graffiti around the city to help cash-strapped businesses deal with the problem.

The work is sponsored by Asheville GreenWorks, a nonprofit community beautification group.

Police said earlier this year that graffiti has increased 20-30 percent from 2007-08.

The cleanup day is the second GreenWorks has hosted this year. In April, crews of volunteers fanned out with graffiti removal kits.

“It was awesome,” said Ellie Feinroth, part owner of Doc Chey’s Noodle House on Biltmore Avenue, which had been hit with graffiti and was cleaned by volunteers. “It seemed kind of too good to be true that they were going to get the graffiti off my building. I fed them lunch.”

Asheville GreenWorks coordinator Allison McGehee said the group is taking aim at graffiti because it hurts the city.

“Business and property owners can’t always afford to deal with the problem — especially if they are vandalized repeatedly,” she said in an announcement about the volunteer day.

“The best way to combat graffiti is to cover it within 48 hours and keep it covered. That way the vandals don’t get the satisfaction of seeing their ‘tag’ long enough to make it worth the trouble.”

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