This year, 350 Tacoma hosted a series of trash clean ups at different locations around the city. We partnered with a variety of organizations to involve as many community members as possible.
As we selected locations, we kept in mind which places have debris that is likely to make it into our waterways, which areas are typically underserved by services, and which communities have bad scores on the health and equity index maps.
Stewardship is a core value of 350 Tacoma. We must care for Mother Earth, care for our shared home, and maintain a deep connection with our environment through acts of service.
This series was made possible by a grant from the Tacoma Sustainability Small Grants Program.
We plan to continue clean ups in the spring through fall of 2026. Let us know if you want to nominate a location by emailing 350tacoma@gmail.com
Event Recaps
Road adjacent to qʷiqʷəlut ("little marsh")
Our first Clean Up Tacoma Event happened in March, near qʷiqʷəlut (“little marsh”) along the roadside, in the Port of Tacoma, cohosted by the Climate Catastrophe Ground Zero Coalition.
This location was in desperate need of care and with the help of almost 30 volunteers, we removed over 40 large black bags of trash and some furniture.
Ceremonial Grounds
We hosted a clean up at this same site last year for Connection Day. It was exciting to find that this special place had far less trash this year and previously. It was also noticeably more greenin places that were just dirt and sand last year including somenative medicine plants like plantain.
Scott Pierson Trail, South Tacoma
In May we partnered with the South Tacoma Neighborhood Council for a clean up along a section of the Scott Pierson Trail, and a Park & Ride, next to the Fircrest Gardens Apartments. We were joined by about 20 volunteers.
This location was in need of a cleanup! We removed a heaping truckload of discarded clothing, food packaging, broken glass, household items, burnt wood and other trash. In the grassy banks along the trail there were signs of previous camping. With the crisis of a lack of affordable housing, lack of services, and rising cost of living, more and more of our community members are forced to shelter wherever they can.
Neighborhood Near Eastside Community Center
Our July clean up was co-hosted by The Black Panther Party and The Panther Party, as a restart of their “Panther Pick-Up” program.
We cleaned up several streets in the neighborhood along houses and apartments and a bus stop. Much of the trash was food wrappers, cans/bottles, broken glass and other small debris. Without public garbage cans along these streets, and many people making a walk to the mini marts nearby it’s not surprising this is the types of trash we found. Some trash also appeared to have blown out of overfull garbage bins outside of the apartments.
Swan Creek Park Trailhead
Swan Creek Park... round two
In September we revisited the Swan Creek Trail on 56th St because the quantity of trash and numerous sections to work on proved too much for one clean up! We found the same pattern of most trash being related to food and beverages, or broken glass. In the underbrush along the trail behind an apartment building we found large concentrations filling up five big bags. We also found five tires and other car parts.
It’s worth noting that there are no garbage cans at any of the entrances to the park or along sidewalks between the corner store on Portland Ave and this park. So it’s not surprising that we find food and beverage litter. These are the types of basic resources that some neighborhoods get and others do not, and the impacts ripple outward.
