SALEM — A group of teenagers may have stumbled upon the solution to a problem that nags big cities like Boston and little ones like Salem: what to do about trash in streets and parks.
Combining a favorite urban sport with one of the causes of urban blight, the seventh-grade class at the Salem Academy Charter School has created something they're calling "trash-ketball."
The idea is simple — turn trash barrels into basketball hoops with backboards and nets.
"It's just a fun way to throw away trash," said Nelson Castro, 13, a student at the charter school.
The students unveiled their idea yesterday at a youth fair in Mary Jane Lee Park in The Point, which, like many urban neighborhoods, has a trash problem. While the park was straightened up for the fair, some of the side streets were littered with paper.
As a service learning project, the school is tackling a real problem.
"Litter is an issue in this neighborhood because everything here is so (compact)," said Sgt. Dennis King of the Police Department's Community Impact Unit.
King said he spends a lot of time cleaning Mary Jane Lee Park while supervising juvenile offenders assigned to community service.
"This is a good thing," King said as he watched students paint trash barrels yesterday. "We want the neighborhood to have ownership of this park."
Before choosing a project, seventh-grade homerooms from Salem Academy Charter School, which is next to The Point, walked up and down streets in the largely Latino, low-income neighborhood deciding what challenge to undertake. When they settled on trash, they even made a map showing the location of barrels and the dirtiest streets.
The students said they want to do something positive in a neighborhood where many of their classmates live, and help The Point show off its many attributes. Reducing trash is also a way to reduce stereotypes, said seventh-grader Olivia Bassila.
"It's actually a really friendly neighborhood," said student Jay Luna-Gil.
The project is not finished yet. Although the barrels have been painted, the school is still waiting for approval to attach backboards and rims.
If this works in Salem, it might just catch on in other cities, several students said.
"We're kind of hoping it turns into a chain reaction," said Bassila.
Trash-ketball was one of the exhibits at "Youth Get to the Point," a fair hosted by the North Shore Community Development Coalition to highlight the many youth programs and projects going on in The Point.
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