"Greening" one Block At A Time
Together We Can Do It!
"Greening" one Block At A Time
Together We Can Do It!
Welcome!
About Us!
The GreenBlocs not for profit was started by brothers, Daniel and Aaron during 2020. They felt the need to take action after noticing an alarming increase of garbage dumping and littering along the streets of their community.
Want To Be Apart of The Team?
Want To Be Apart of The Team?
Want To Be Apart of The Team?
All persons who are interested are encouraged to follow the social media links for ideas on upcoming community projects; getting involved, and making a positive difference in their community.
Mission Statement
Want To Be Apart of The Team?
Want To Be Apart of The Team?
GreenBlocs is a not for profit organization engaged in building awareness through the involvement of residents in maintaining their blocks free of general trash and promoting the beautification of their neighborhood.
Our Vision For The Future
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Our Vision For The Future
To have residents take ownership and engage in advocacy to maintain a litter free environment and the beautification of their neighborhood.
Origin of GreenBlocs
During a weekend, Daniel and Aaron decided to survey a four block radius of their community. What they found was quite disturbing and it became evident that there was lots of illegal dumping of solid waste in the community. They took photographs and evaluated the waste and found that much of the garbage included construction type waste, building materials, spray cans, bottles, plastic, paper, televisions, electrical wiring, bulbs, light fixtures and an open 5 gallon bucket of dark oily liquid. Many of the items can be recyclable or could be disposed of in regular trash.
The question was why was this dumping occurring in the neighborhood. What they found was that locations that had more significant amounts of disposed trash had unoccupied lots, streets with residential housing on one side of the block, streets with industrial facilities such as the MTA train depot, streets that were poorly illuminated, underpasses that are poorly illuminated and in disrepair, and streets that did not have trash receptacles.
Aside from the unsightliness of garbage piles, there was concern about rodent and vermin infestation, risks of harm to residents with unknown chemicals disposed of, and accidental contact by neighborhood kids and residents. These conditions make it convenient for persons to illegally dump as they may believe that no one cares about the neighborhood. On some blocks piles were spread along most of the block indicating that the same persons felt comfortable to repeatedly dump garbage there or other persons felt it was convenient. As one garbage pile appears, more follow.
Both brothers felt that they had to take personal action and brainstormed how they could make a difference. Out of this brainstorming the not for profit GreenBlocs was formed. The brothers felt that each and every block needs to be litter free. They also felt that residents also need to be empowered to advocate for a clean environment, whether it be to encourage neighborhood businesses to maintain their immediate environs clean, to residents ensuring contractors they hire properly dispose of garbage, speaking to elected officials to provide resources for beautification, and maintaining the neighborhood clean.
The brothers also felt that the grittiness of the blocks brought on a level of disrespect that perpetrators felt that it was acceptable for illegal dumping and casual littering to occur. This had to change.
The idea was that even if it was one block at time, each block should eventually become a GreenBloc, meaning it was clean, tree lined, and beautified to promote pride and respect for the neighborhood.
