Day 9 - Aurora Town Park

Date: Aug 19, 2021

Location: Aurora Town Park

Garbage (lbs): 2

Recycling (lbs): 2

This cleanup marked our fifth park cleanup in August, which was completed with 3 members of our project group (plus one friend who volunteered to help). However, one of our group members had to drop out due to him getting a flat tire on the way to the park. Thus, we had to make do with only 3 people cleaning up. Our initial impression of Aurora Town Park was that this was a medium sized park, with a couple of obvious high traffic locations (the outdoor auditorium, next to a children's waterpark and playground). Although we only cleaned up the outdoor auditorium portion, we were able to get lots and lots of garbage. This was interesting, as initially it would seem a wide open area would be well-maintained and open to everyone to see if anyone tried to litter. However, there would seem to be 2 factors that contributed to the high garbage amount here: firstly, the park was home to many town events, which happened especially at night and involved many, many people. Particularly, there was a "Concerts in the Park" event happening when we did our cleanup. This, people would have brought lots of garbage such as food wrappers or drinks to watch concerts with, increasing the likelihood they would just leave it on the ground afterwards. There was also only a few garbage cans to the very side of the auditorium space, making it very inconvenient for people to properly dispose.

The second reason that would explain the high amount of trash (also high trash density, as it was concentrated in one relatively small area) would be the lack of any trash regulations or reminders. There were also no messages telling people not to litter. Without these deterrents, and given the high traffic of the park at events and busy hours, many people believe they can get away with littering. This actually ties into a social psychology phenomenon known as "deindividuation" where people in a group lose a sense of individuality, and self-control. Thus, they are much more likely to do things they would not normally do, such as litter, when they feel like they are more likely to get away without facing any consequences. This helps explain the ethical issue of personal responsibility and why people often violate ethical norms when in groups.

During our cleanup, we were also approached by a Town of Aurora park cleaner, who told us he was also there to clean up as well. We had a short discussion about our group's cleanup project, as well as some of the parks we already went to. The park cleaner also recommended us to clean up Hickson Park on the weekends, where there would undoubtedly be a lot of foot traffic. He was also very supportive of our project and even offered to mention our cleanup to his supervisor. This encounter motivated us to clean up even harder, as we felt satisfied that there were even more people, especially town employees, who appreciated our work. At the same time, we are reminded that our volunteer work is literally many peoples' jobs, a livelihood which is often underappreciated by the community, but so crucial in keeping parks and recreational areas clean for the benefit of all.

#CASCleanup2021