Julie Raskin ’08

Are you curious about composting? Radical about recycling? Craving a cleaner city? Julie Raskin ’08, executive director of NYC’s Sanitation Foundation, just might have solutions for you.

The Sanitation Foundation is the official nonprofit partner of the New York City Department of Sanitation, with a mission to reinforce the work of DSNY and reduce waste sent to landfills. “We’re really able to expand upon what DSNY can do,” Raskin says, “to cast a wider net and support everything that it’s doing on the operational side with the public engagement piece.”

The foundation’s public engagement efforts have been felt all around the city thanks to numerous outreach events. It runs the NYC Trash Academy (an educational series) as well as an array of NYC Waste Workshops (public events) designed for New Yorkers interested in creating a more sustainable city. There’s also the DSNY Tool Loan/Cleanup Program, which loans out brooms, shovels, rakes, bags and gloves for neighborhood cleanup projects.

In addition, the foundation hosts large-scale community clean-up events such as September’s Great Broadway Sweep, during which more than 500 volunteers cleared nearly 2,500 pounds of litter from Broadway over the course of a week. In April, the foundation launched its newest initiative, the NYC Big Spring Clean, which encouraged neighborhood organizations, corporations and schools to work together to clean litter across the city during Earth Month.

“We’re an organization that enables New Yorkers to get involved in sanitation work, and to really help the Sanitation Department work toward its goals of a cleaner and more sustainable New York City,” Raskin says.

— Anne-Ryan Sirju JRN’09