Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer challenges city to get clean. Here’s how you can play a part

Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer announced Monday a new challenge to residents to help beautify the city.

The Million Pound Challenge for Beautify Fresno calls for the city to collect 1 million pounds of trash from streets, parks, alleys and trails this year.

“I love the enthusiasm and the appreciation our community has shown for the Beautify Fresno movement during the past year,“ Dyer said. “Over the next 12 months, this challenge will prove that people all over our great city are willing to help, to show that we won’t accept the status quo, and that when we work together, we become One Fresno.”

A Beautify Fresno sanitation crew is tasked with collecting 900,000 pounds of trash leaving volunteers and residents to collect the remaining 100,000 pounds from organized cleanup events or by picking up litter around their neighborhood.

Last year, volunteers collected nearly 90,000 pounds of garbage during community-based cleanup events.

Residents can participate in the challenge by joining Beautify Fresno cleanup events, organizing small-group cleanup events or picking up litter on their own and self-reporting their results. Participants can visit the Beautify Fresno website to fill out basic information about their volunteer cleanup efforts and the website will keep a running total of all the trash collected during the year.