Author’s note: Greenpoint Trash Club, started by Tom Aulenback last August, has grown to a consistent group of 10 to 20 volunteers, mainly Brooklynites, looking to clean-up, make friends and even find love. After the G train shutdown last summer, Aulenback got sick of taking the hour-long trip back and forth to Bushwick where he volunteered for the Pick-up Pigeons, so he started the Greenpoint Trash Club. Every week, the club tackles a different part of Greenpoint before meeting up at a bar. For many attendees, it’s a great way to meet friends without spending a bunch of money.
GREENPOINT — On a Wednesday evening, two dozen New Yorkers gathered outside Rounder’s, a sports bar in Greenpoint. They weren’t there for the NBA playoffs, hockey or even Rounder’s famous Guinness Martini — Greenpoint Trash Club was getting ready to head off on a clean up.
Tom Aulenback ends the day throwing out the day’s trash collection on Wednesday, April 30. Photo by Owen Lavine
Greenpoint Trash Club, founded by Tom Aulenback in August 2024, has morphed into a social meet-up that cleans up Northern Brooklyn as well. Every week the club tackles a different part of Greenpoint before meeting up at a bar.
Every week, Aulenback posts a map and instructions on social media. This particular week, the club zigzagged across Freeman and Green Streets between Franklin Street and Manhattan Avenue before closing out at Rounder’s.
Tom Aulenback, the creator of Greenpoint Trash Club, chats with Laura Weinstein during Greenpoint Trash Club’s weekly pick-up on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Photo by Owen Lavine
The club is more than a way to meet new friends and clean up North Brooklyn — romance is in the air.
Chris Puch, who lives in Staten Island but comes up to Greenpoint to reconnect with his Polish roots, met a “tall and pretty” woman a few weeks ago at one of Trash Club’s meet-ups.
“One thing led to another and before I knew it, it was ‘see you later, nice meeting you’ and I totally dropped the ball,” Puch lamented. “I never asked her for a number. Then I blinked and she was gone.”
Tom Aulenback, the creator of Greenpoint Trash Club, was joined by 23 others on his weekly trash pick-up on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Photo by Owen Lavine
Puch took to the r/Williamsburg Reddit forum to ask about his missed connection. Puch says she hasn’t responded, but his post went viral.
Laura Weinstein, who came to the trash pick up with a few friends, said the post “incentivized all these single people to come out.”
Puch chuckled, “I’m glad somebody got something out of it.”
Shayla Walsh came out because she thought it would be a great way to meet friends and clean up the neighborhood.
Chris Puch (left) picks up some glass with Joe Sebastian during Greenpoint Trash Club’s weekly pick-up on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Photo by Owen Lavine
“I wanted to meet people, but I also wanted to help my community and I feel like it’s a low stakes thing. It’s like an hour of cleaning up trash and then you can get a drink afterwards and you feel good and you make friends,” Walsh said.
Wednesday night’s crew drew the biggest crowd Aulenback has gathered so far. The group hauled four trash bags full of garbage from the streets too.
Origins
Aulenback moved to Greenpoint four years ago and previously volunteered for Bushwick’s Pick-up Pigeons, but the G train shutdown over the summer soured him on the hour-long commute across Brooklyn to pick-up garbage. “So I just started my own in Greenpoint,” Aulenback said.
Greenpoint Trash Club’s most recent trash pick-up drew 24 people and filled four bags of trash on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Photo by Owen Lavine
Aulenback posted on Reddit asking if anyone would join him on a trash pick-up.
“I was fully convinced I was going to be the only one there and no one was going to show up,” Aulenback remembered. Lo and behold, 10 others joined him. Since then, around 10 to 20 people have shown up every week.
Aulenback brings all the equipment: trashbags, sanitizer, gloves, pickers and a bluetooth speaker. He said the pick-ups usually take around an hour and remove around 75 pounds of trash.
Greenpoint Trash Club gathered at Rounder’s before heading out for trash pick-up on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Photo by Owen Lavine
Every clean-up ends with a meet-up at a bar.
“Most people wouldn’t be coming out every week if it wasn’t a good place to make friends,” Aulenback said. “You don’t need to spend money to come out to these, hang out and just talk to people — it’s pretty rare.”
SUNSET PARK — “As a resident of Marine Park, one of the great surprises I found biking around Industry City and visiting Japan Village was to discover Bush Terminal Park. I continue to be amazed at the serene hideaways that the city offers in some of the busiest places — and, still, with an iconic view.”
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — ‘A miracle that no one was killed …’ That’s what neighbors are saying about the collapse of the Hotel St. George marquee. Shown in this photograph are workmen beginning the removal and repair of the historic, old neon sign at the corner, referencing a relic of Brooklyn Heights’ past: the St. George Hotel.
ATLANTIC AVENUE — Exhausted shopper with cluster of bags and goods from mall at Boerum Place stops to look at huge construction site across the street. “Is that REALLY going to be a jail??” Her male companion is reassuring, “Nothing like Rikers … this is 21st Century.”
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Overheard in line at one of most popular pastry outlets on Montague Street: “Hope I can get them into a camp …” A mother with two pre-schoolers in tow was showing a friend the Dodge Y flyer for Healthy Kids Day on Saturday, April 18.
