WEBVTT

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Litter

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is a global problem.

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It is an issue around the world,

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in this country,

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in my state,

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in this city.

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And,

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um,

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no one was really primarily focused on

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it from a hyperlocal neighborhood perspective,

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which is really where you get the change in

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the behavior to get people to stop littering.

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A lot of organizations,

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Boy Scouts,

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Knights of Columbus,

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the zoo,

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the city,

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they do a lot of litter,

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um,

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Impact initiatives,

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but it's not a primary focus.

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This is our primary focus

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and um

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we're,

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we're very proud of that challenge.

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When I became a father,

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that,

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that experience gave me a new perspective on the value of family and

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the value of your community and your community is like your extended family.

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And our ultimate goal is to make Rochester,

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New York,

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the first litter-free city in the country.

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We're in the middle of creating

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a GIS dashboard,

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which will be the first ever

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in GIS history for a city's litter management.

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In general,

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how do we,

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how do we measure it right now?

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I mean,

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yeah,

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you can kind of go off of looks.

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Uh,

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we run cleanups throughout the city and we've been

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collecting more weight as time has gone by.

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But also in partnership with the Rochester Institute of Technology,

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we've come across a lot of information to kind of give us context

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as to how much litter we need to pick up.

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So let me give you an example.

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This year so far we've collected 2800 pounds of litter.

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Um,

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and in 2023,

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the amount of litter that traveled through

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the Rochester sewage system

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was 70,000 pounds.

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So,

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just to give you context of what we're going for is to

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not necessarily shoot for 70,000,

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but since that number is being measured through their own operations,

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to get that number to go down,

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to see

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litter-free environments as well will give us indicators.

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But starting in 2026,

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we'll have that GIS dashboard which will give us clear measurements

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of our impact.

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When you have these types of initiatives in the community,

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it builds a sense of pride.

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People that volunteer

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Here you can volunteer without any experience,

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without a certain age,

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and that allows people to be woven into the fabric of community

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so that they can actually feel

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like they're part of something than just

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worrying about the everyday grind.

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Start small,

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go out there and pick up litter.

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You need to be seen.

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People want to see that.

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You know,

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I have volunteers tell me all the time that when they're picking up litter,

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people will pull over,

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honk their horn,

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and go,

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thank you very much.

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You start small one day at a time.