NEW YORK, July 3 KYODO
Few people would choose to be up as early as 9 a.m. spending their weekends cleaning, but for Terry Sato and his Japanese volunteers, sweeping New York City streets is a pleasure.
On a recent Sunday morning, Sato and 14 others are stretching in the West Village neighborhood on West 4th and Avenue of the Americas, indifferent to the light rain that has kept most people indoors.
The streets are mostly empty, save for a few joggers and dog-walkers. Traffic is sparse. The bars are closed and most restaurants are still unopened.
But amid the unusual calm in a city known for its bustle, the litter from the weekend revelry still remains.
That is where Sato's group comes in.
Armed with dust pans, brooms and garbage bags, the volunteers meet once a month to clean up a fraction of the 50,000 tons of trash New York City produces every day, enough to fill the Empire State building. By concentrating on making their block spotless, the group hopes to encourage locals to be less wasteful.
“We want people to notice the difference in how clean one area is and how dirty another area is,” said Sato, a self-described “environmental artist” who works in several areas concerning ecological matters.
New York City municipal services handle more than 12,000 tons of residential waste, according to city data.
Commercial trash is collected privately. Refuse has been hauled out of state since 2001 after the city closed Fresh Kills, once the world's largest landfill.
Sato, 47, wants to reduce trash consumption and make the streets cleaner. He started the group in 2006 in Times Square with a group of friends in hopes of emulating the spotless streets in his native Japan.
“People tend to blame the city or the government for environmental problems, but we should instead be asking if there is something we can each do ourselves to reduce waste,” he said.
The following year, the group moved to their current location after finding a gathering spot at Aki, the Japanese restaurant that serves as their headquarters.
The volunteers are a mix of youth and adults who peruse the streets for trash throughout the year regardless of rain, sleet or snow. Sato says there are usually more than 20 volunteers when the weather is nicer.
The group members are easily identifiable by their yellow caps and neon green shirts, which read, “Shine the Big Apple” on the back.
In a hygiene-conscious country like Japan where they sell items like antibacterial calculators and toothbrushes, the volunteers -- most of whom are Japanese natives -- do not flinch when they encounter dirty trash. Instead, they enjoy it.
“It feels really good. I like to clean anyway,” said Kossan Yamada, a volunteer who is a Zen monk.
Yamada is not surprised at what he finds on the streets anymore. He has cleaned feces, drug paraphernalia and broken beer bottles, but on luckier days, he said, volunteers have found loose change or large bills.
He added, “It's not really a matter of dirtiness than it is danger. There's a lot of glass, needles, condoms. I used to clean barehanded. Now I wear gloves so I can clean more things.”
The volunteers stick their hands into puddles to pick out cigarette butts. They use tongs to throw away wet napkins stuck on the street. They chisel the ubiquitous patches of blackened gum on the sidewalks which the rain has softened.
“They're taking every single thing. I see them. I'm watching them,” said Roni Rezvi, who owns a convenience store on the block where the group cleans. He said he wished the volunteers made cleaning their full-time job.
“If they're working like that, it's very good for the city. It's very good for us and the neighbors.”
The group receives funding for their cleaning supplies from local store owners, corporate sponsors and patrons who dine at Aki. During the street cleaning, some passersby offer fleeting glances while others inquire and offer praise.
“We want to make an impression by action, not by preaching,” Sato said.
The trash the group collects is ultimately tossed in the city trash bins. Some critics might point out that the group is only culling trash, not reducing it. But Sato says he has noticed a difference in the neighborhood.
“We have a trash barometer near the train station. There used to be a lot of garbage there when we started, but now there is a lot less. People don't throw away their trash there as much now,” he said.
The success of his Manhattan chapter has spurred some volunteers to start their own cleaning groups in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Sato, who has been in the United States since 1988, said he is simply expressing an appreciation for the city and he hopes others will follow.
“If you clean up somebody's trash, then maybe somebody might be cleaning up your trash somewhere else. Then you can realize that there is something cyclical, that we're all helping each other someway,” he said.
