Tom Aulenback is the founder of Greenpoint Trash Club, a weekly neighborhood cleanup and social meetup he started in August 2024. He founded the club as a practical response to a subway shutdown, which made getting to the Bushwick cleanup group he used to volunteer with too long a trip. He’s since turned his group into a consistent and growing community of New Yorkers who spend an hour picking up trash before heading into a local restaurant or bar to connect.
—Story Contributed by Molly Woodward and Sophie Power
—Story Contributed by Molly Woodward and Sophie Power
A volunteer picks up a trash picker from a pile Tom leads the charge with his mobile trash can Armani Barron Elder, a volunteer shows off her Greenpoint Trash Club merch Volunteers pick up paper along Greenpoint’s streets A volunteer with the cigarette buds and other trash collected along the route Volunteers with trash pickers on the hunt for more garbage After the cleanup, the pickers get packed away until the next meetup
