CleanScapes $10,000 Neighborhood Prize pays for benches along Interurban Trail

One of five new benches on the Interurban Trail

Walkers on the Interurban Trail in Shoreline now have some places to rest and watch the world go by, thanks to five new benches which have been installed along the southern end of the Interurban Trail in Shoreline. The benches were purchased by CleanScapes, Shoreline’s contracted waste hauler, and installed by the City of Shoreline Parks Department.

CleanScapes awarded a $10,000 community project to residents in the Friday collection area for their success in reducing their overall waste from 2009 to 2010, as compared to the other four collection areas.

The Friday collection area includes the neighborhoods of Westminster Triangle, Richmond Highlands, Parkwood, Meridian Park, and Highland Terrace. Representatives from those neighborhoods met and chose to spend the money on benches for the Trail.

Mayor McGlashan commented that “we are thrilled with the addition of these benches to the Interurban Trail. They are a great amenity for the neighborhoods that won, and the broader Shoreline community. They are also a great reminder that people can do more to recycle and reduce the amount of waste they generate.”

Donated to Shoreline by CleanScapes Waste Reduction Reward Project 2010

Chris Martin, President of CleanScapes, stressed the importance of overall waste reduction: “Everything we throw away has environmental and economic costs. Recycling and composting are very important, but it still takes trucks and fuel to collect these materials, and energy to process them. A better solution is to cut back on how much stuff we use in the first place, and we want to reward those neighborhoods that demonstrate a commitment to that.”

CleanScapes was founded in Seattle, Washington in 1997, and provides sustainable solid waste and recycling collection and comprehensive StreetScapes management services to municipalities, commercial properties, business improvement districts and stadiums in Washington, Oregon and California.