Initiatives aim to clean up Pittsburgh's South Side

Duquesne volunteers joined a South Side cleaning initiative Saturday to help clean up broken glass that could be of potential harm to dogs.

The first South Side Glass Sweep-Up partnered with Duquesne University Volunteers (DUV) to help clean broken glass from South Side Streets that could be potentially harmful to the neighborhood’s pet dogs.

Forty-four volunteers came out from the South Side to support the movement with over 20 of those volunteers being Duquesne students. Volunteers picked up 395 pounds of broken glass during the two-hour sweep and helped improve the South Side for both dogs and humans.

Alia Pustorino-Clevenger, assistant director for community engagement at Duquesne, said this was the first time DUV partnered with an initiative that was purely a glass sweep. All the glass was recycled properly through the city.

“Many of the community residents were Duquesne students and alumni, it felt like a Duquesne day,” Pustorino-Clevenger said. “It shows that Duquesne is embedded in that community, and it is a very big part of the area of that we are committed to.”

Kim Collins, a South Side resident and business owner of Blue Tomato Design, decided to launch a campaign that promotes the cleaning up of broken glass that could harm South Side “pups,” as the campaign refers to the dogs.

Several neighborhood dogs are featured on posters along with Collins’ own dog Moggy.

“I hope this campaign brings awareness to people that glass hurts,” Collins said. “Our dogs are residents too, and they should be able to go for walks in the city and not get hurt as a result.”

The posters of the dogs have been seen in the windows of many South Side residences and businesses that support the campaign and are hoping to help promote keeping South Side clean and safe for people and pets.

“Even when people set an empty glass bottle on the sidewalk and walk away, there is a good chance the bottle will end up broken,” Collins said.

Several initiatives have been launched to help keep South Side clean over the past couple of months, including the new South Side Bar and Restaurant Association, which held its first “Operation Clean Sweep” Sept. 9.

More clean ups are being planned for the spring and fall of next year. The campaign’s goal is to get more people involved and keep more glass off of the streets.  

Collins said she hopes to work with all of the area universities and local community groups so that there is a “clear, consistent, organized mission to keep South Side clean and safe”.

“I'm currently working on a bar coaster campaign that I’d like to roll out in the spring 2013,” Collins said. “I’d like to have bar coasters printed with the dogs’ pictures and the messaging and hand them out to as many South Side bars as possible.”

Another South Side initiative, Operation Clean Sweep, began Sept. 8.