Imagine a Cleaner Seattle - One Can at a Time

Imagine… if every person left every place better than they found it.

That idea is at the heart of Pick It Up Seattle.

It can start with something as small as picking up one piece of litter. One person. One piece. One cleaner corner of the city.

But when those small actions are repeated across neighborhoods, sidewalks, parks, waterfronts, and business districts, they begin to add up to something much bigger: a culture of caring for the place we all share.

That’s why Pick It Up Seattle is about more than litter pickup. It’s about making positive action visible. Sharing before-and-after photos. Thanking people who are making a difference. Noticing the beautiful places around us. Connecting people with community cleanups. And reminding each other that small acts really do matter.

Now we’re taking that idea one step further with our Sponsor a Can initiative.

As we’ve spent more time walking Seattle and picking up litter, one challenge has become increasingly clear: in many places, there simply isn’t a convenient public trash can nearby.

Sponsor a Can is designed to help fill some of those gaps.

The vision is to place attractive, public-facing litter cans in locations where they can make a real difference, with local businesses and property owners helping support the ongoing service.

We’re developing Sponsor a Can as a pilot program and pursuing grant funding to help cover the initial cost of the cans. That allows participating businesses and community partners to focus on helping keep the cans serviced and the surrounding area cleaner.

And importantly, these aren’t cans intended simply for a business’s own trash. They’re meant to serve the public — the person walking down the sidewalk with a coffee cup, the dog walker holding a bag, or the neighbor who just picked up a piece of litter and needs somewhere to put it.

We’re now looking for our first 10 Founding Sponsor a Can partners.

These first partners will help us learn what works, identify good locations, understand servicing and placement needs, and demonstrate what this kind of community partnership can look like.

There are also many ways to help beyond sponsoring a can. Introductions to local businesses, property owners, neighborhood organizations, funders, and people familiar with permitting or public-space placement can all help move the idea forward.

Because sometimes making a city better really can begin with something very simple.

A person who cares.

A piece of litter picked up.

A place to put it.

And a community willing to say, we can leave this place better than we found it.

Interested in Sponsor a Can or know someone who might be? Visit PickItUpSeattle.org or reach out through our Community Partners page.