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Great Garbage Grab (at the Lab) starts Monday

Part of National Volunteer Week

Laboratory employees can help beautify the areas in which they work by participating in the first Great Garbage Grab (at the Lab) starting Monday.

The litter clean-up and beautification is being held in conjunction with National Volunteer Week and the Lab's celebration of Earth Day, which is Thursday, April 22.

The events are sponsored by the Risk Reduction and Environmental Stewardship (RRES), Facilities and Waste Operations (FWO) and Communications and External Relations (CER) divisions.

The theme of Earth Day at the Lab is "By Protecting the Environment, I Protect Our Health."

The theme for National Volunteer Week is "Inspire by Example."

The Great Garbage Grab at the Lab continues through April 30 and allows Lab employees to compete against each other in a form of friendly competition for a chance to win a "Traveling Trash Trophy" for the organization collecting the most litter, said Debbi Wersonick of the Community Relations (CRO) Office.

Lab workers, individually or in teams, can sign up to pick up litter and refuse on main roads, parking lots and immediate areas in and around the technical areas where they work. Employees can sign up by calling Wersonick at 7-7870, or they can print out a Great Garbage Grab at the Lab sign up sheet from the Facilities and Waste Operations (FWO) Division Web page, complete it and send to Wersonick.

Bags, vests and gloves can be picked up at the FWO Division Office at Technical Area 63 (Building 53, Room 109) and at the CRO offices on Central Avenue downtown. The bags are provided by KSL Services and New Mexico Clean and Beautiful, a program of the New Mexico Department of Tourism.

KSL Services also is participating in the event, Wersonick said. On Sunday morning, 40 KSL Services employees are cleaning up a two-mile stretch of NM 502 on the "main hill road" that KSL adopted as a community service project, Wersonick added.

Lab employees should remember the following information when participating in the litter clean-up event:

• Safety comes first; wear appropriate shoes, clothing (pants, long-sleeved shirts), safety vests, gloves and sunscreen;
• Assign a team member to opposite ends of the roadway where cleaning up to alert team members to oncoming vehicular traffic; don't cross roadways;
• Work on the side of the road facing oncoming traffic;
• Drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration;
• Limit clean-up activities to the hours between dawn and dusk;
• Work in teams of three, with one individual designated for traffic safety;
• Don't handle dead animals, syringes, sharp or broken glass or objects, suspicious or hazardous materials;
• Be aware of surroundings and watch for biting insects, snakes and other animals;
• Don't overload litter bags. Large, heavy items should be left for later pick-up.

Lab employees who come upon what they suspect may be hazardous or suspicious materials should contact Emergency Management and Response (S-8) at 7-6211.

Wersonick said the FWO Web page has a schedule of assigned areas and pick-up days when crews will come by and pick up litter that has been collected. Lab volunteers also are asked to separate, if possible, aluminum cans for recycling.

On Friday, April 23 and 30, clean-up teams should report the number of bags of litter collected to Mitzi Sanchez of Integrated Business Systems (FWO-IBS) at mitzi@lanl.gov by electronic mail.

The Laboratory is celebrating Earth Day and National Volunteer Week with a number of activities in April.

Laboratory Earth Day events begin today when Linton Brooks, National Nuclear Security Administration administrator, presents NNSA Pollution Prevention awards to Lab organizations.

Today also kicks off a week-long bike to work and play promotion designed to encourage Lab workers to use bicycles or other, alternative forms of transportation to get to and from work.

The Lab also is collaborating with Los Alamos County and the Pajarito Environmental Education Center on a picnic at Ashley Pond and a tree planting at a Cerro Grande fire restoration area. Employees who ride their bicycle or walk to the pond will receive a double punch of their card. The punch cards are available at locations around the Lab and at community businesses. The card can be punched at all participating entities listed on the back of the card every time an employee has to travel, such as commuting to and from work, into town or between technical areas. Employees who complete their card can turn it in at the Earth Day picnic April 22 at Ashley Pond and become eligible for prizes. The bike to work and play promotion ends April 22 and all cards should be turned in by April 24. Transportation to the tree-planting site is being provided by KSL Services at 10 a.m., from the Los Alamos Community Center next to Ashley Pond.

The last scheduled Earth Day event is the Lab's annual Pollution Prevention awards ceremony at 10 a.m., April 29 in the Physics Building Auditorium at TA-3. "The P2 awards honor all the great employee ideas and accomplishments that have reduced waste and saved money at the Lab," said Denny Hjeresen of the Lab's Pollution Prevention (RRES-PP) team. "It's a great way to recognize Earth Day every day."

The Lab has created an Earth Day Web page listing scheduled events at the Lab and in the community, links to other Earth Day Web pages and information on what people can do to celebrate Earth Day.

A Great Garbage Grab at the Lab Web page can be found at http://fwo.lanl.gov/ online.

Earth Day is observed nationally on April 22. Originally observed in 1970, this year marks the 34 th observed Earth Day.

National Volunteer Week began in 1974 through a proclamation by President Richard Nixon that established a national celebration of volunteering and recognizing volunteers for their contributions to their communities; the proclamation also encouraged local community service projects.

For more Earth Day information, call Camille Bustamante of RRES-PP at 930-3174. For information about the Great Garbage Grab (at the Lab) and other National Volunteer Week activities, call Wersonick at 7-7870. Or see the April 8 Daily Newsbulletin.

-- Steve Sandoval

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