De-Trash Dance Party

AndyatFocallocal · March 26, 2025, 9:53pm

Societal Issues Targeted

Environmental protection through community action
Making environmental activism fun and accessible
Building community connections through shared positive experiences

“If it’s not fun, then it’s not sustainable” - Gary Lachance

Intro

This is a trash clean up activity, with a difference. Gratuitous servings of FUN!

If you missed it trashtag began in 2019 as a viral challenge created by UCO Gear’s Steven Reinhold as part of a brand marketing activity. It went viral after Byron Roman’s Facebook post challenging “bored teens” to clean up their local areas and post before/after photos, leading to a global movement with thousands of participants worldwide cleaning up their streets and posting about it on social media.

The one thing i always hear from organsiers of regular trash clean ups is that they wish it wasn’t so hard to attract people to join in each time, and get them to return. For a lot of people it feels like a thing to tick off their bucket list.

Well, one of our favourite quotes is ‘if its not fun then its not sustainable’, from Gary LaChance from the Decentralized Dance Party.

So bring get your most fabulously colourful and over-the-top costume out the closet, grab a pair of gardening gloves, a few trash bags, and lets make cleaning up our society down-right funky!

How to

Find or rent some portable speakers. The bigger the better.
Choose a location with visible litter and good foot traffic
Create a meeting point that’s easy to find
Bring thick trash bags, garden waste bags are great! gardening gloves, and hand sanitizer
Make a killer playlist (2-3 hours minimum) and post your suggested playlists in the comments below.
Set up a “cleaned litter” collection point for proper disposal. If there is going to be a lot contact your local council and request a special pick up.
Take before, during and after photos of the area, and vids of you all having heaps of all the people coming to dance and have fun cleaning up their community.

Pro-Tips

This also works great as a silent disco
Bring battery banks to charge your speakers in case they need a little juice
Go bold, big and colourful with your costumes. Trash themed costumes are also very cool!
You can run big battery-less speaker systems from a car battery for a few hours pretty easily if you have an inverter.
A good playlist has plenty of tunes people already know (or mixes of them), as it makes it easy to dance to. Nostalgic cheesy songs are also great for dancing, so long as everything has an energetic beat and good base.
Extendable trash grabbers are useful for hard-to-reach litter
Coordinate with local waste management for proper disposal
Take lots of photos and share on social media with #DeTrashDanceParty
Consider high-vis accessories for safety if cleaning near roads
Partner with local cafes for refreshment stops. Many will be happy to see you helping out their community and offer discounts and freebies.
Consider designating someone, or a team of people, as ‘Hype Men/Women/Dogs’ and give them an official role of keeping the energy high. Moving to anywhere the fun is dipping and creating dance related games, leading a dance, getting people to sing along with them.
Post what your doing in some local artist groups. Its a cool theme and someone might like the idea of turning your gatherings into an art piece. One persons trash is another’s treasure after all!

Benefits

Combining dance and environmental action creates a unique synergy. The music keeps energy high, while the visible improvement to your area provides immediate satisfaction. Dancing together breaks down social barriers, making it easier for strangers to work together toward a common goal. Making the activity fun means people will be counting down the days waiting for the next #DeTrashDanceParty, rather than ticking a bucket list box and moving on.

Also, if you’re into jogging consider trying out Plogging