At least once a week throughout our neighborhoods in San Francisco a large pile of orange bags filled with trash is waiting to be picked up. Do you ever stop and wonder who’s behind those piles?
On a recent Wednesday morning, I met up with Vincent Yuen, founder of Refuse Refuse, during a scheduled cleanup. While we walked and talked he filled up one of those orange plastic bags printed in capital letters with “love our city,” and I learned just how much he does.
I first met Yuen in front of George Peabody Elementary school during a cleanup he organized for the Clement Street neighborhood with a fellow community advocate. I was impressed by how organized he was. Block by block charted off, two volunteers here, two there, and the energy from him and the volunteers was infectious. After I left I immediately called my boss and said this guy is special and signed us up.
In 2004 Yuen moved to San Francisco. He lived in multiple neighborhoods before landing in the Inner Richmond, and for the past 10 years he’s been raising a family. During the pandemic like many folks Yuen became the ultimate caregiver. Deciding how to keep his children busy through gardening, bike riding, and — lucky for us — cleaning up their neighborhood was the one that stuck. Yuen was teaching his girls the importance of civic pride at the ages of 4 and 6.
Yuen speaks about Peters Place, a preschool that offers a once-a-year neighborhood cleanup for families that had inspired him. He thought, I could do this with my girls, and as if it was meant to be, the pickers he ordered came in a two-pack: one adult size and another the perfect size for a little one. As he and his girls started cleaning their neighborhood, in a couple of weeks the difference was noticeable, so they added more blocks to their repertoire. After being noticed by a neighbor who was impressed by the trio, that neighbor came out the following week to help. And this is when Yuen’s lightbulb switched on: Wouldn’t it be great if there was someone on every block to clean up?
After doing some research about how to organize a cleanup, Yuen found that San Francisco Public Works offered a program to help folks create cleanups in their communities. Scheduling his first cleanup in April 2021, 12 volunteers signed up and the idea of Refuse Refuse was born.
Yuen is not alone in his quest — he has since been able to work with groups of like-minded individuals, hosting over 2,500 cleanups with over 12,000 volunteers in the past three years. He has secured fiscal sponsorship through San Francisco Beautiful and received support from organizations supporting community pride, including The Mimi and Peter Haas Fund, The Civic Joy Fund, and Avenue Greenlight. These needed funds have helped with purchasing the cleaning tools, providing incentives for volunteers by offering a little thank-you treat, and supporting the local eateries that provide them while working with groups such as Together SF and San Francisco Surfrider Foundation providing support on how to organize and gather volunteers.
Yuen spoke about the importance of volunteering, how it can lead to community pride, and about how as parents we teach our children to clean their rooms before they play. We had a laugh as we compared their rooms to San Francisco and how we San Franciscans have to get our rooms cleaned before we can go out and play.
While he understands that volunteering can be a big ask and can compete with other obligations, he makes volunteering accessible, and enjoyable. He’s found that the Refuse Refuse volunteers look forward to coming together to support their community, even establishing a habit for some.
Yuen mentioned a January 2022 article by Heather Knight in the San Francisco Chronicle (Knight is currently with the New York Times), where she wrote about how a San Franciscan was on the mission to clean up our city’s streets. He joked with Knight and asked if Refuse Refuse was worthy enough to be highlighted in a New York Times article. With over 2,500 cleanups organized since 2021, Yuen has been able to bring over 12,000 San Franciscans together to pick up over 47,000 13-gallon bags of trash. I’d say it’s pretty worthy.
So here’s where we all come in. In a time where San Francisco is getting a bad rap, let’s help Yuen change the narrative and get that highlight, focusing on how San Francisco is a place where folks come together to keep their city clean. Join Refuse Refuse in its mission to clean up our city. Sign up today for a cleanup in a neighborhood near you.