12 Million Pounds Of Trash Collected By 186,000 Volunteers During Great PA Cleanup
Photo

PA Cleanways - Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful reported a record 186,487 volunteers in the Great American Cleanup of Pennsylvania in April and May collected over 12 million pounds of trash in cleanup events.

            This annual event is in partnership with support from the departments of Environmental Protection and Transportation and partnering agencies and local businesses including American Chemistry Council, American Iron and Steel Institute, Keystone Sanitary Landfill, PA Beverage Association, PA Waste Industries Association, Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association, and Waste Management.
            Volunteers collected a record 12,070,740 pounds of trash. All 67 counties in Pennsylvania were represented in the Great American Cleanup of PA. There were 4,822 events with 186,487 volunteers. Volunteers collected 603,537 bags of trash. They cleaned 19,373 miles of roads, railroad tracks, trails, waterways, and shorelines, and 6,027 acres of park and or wetlands. 
            These statistics reflect results reported to PA CleanWays - Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful and PennDOT’s Adopt-A-Highway Program.  
            Volunteers planted 21,605 trees, bulbs, and plants in an effort to keep Pennsylvania beautiful.
            In 2009 more than 171,940 volunteers statewide joined in the cleanup and gathered more than 6.8 million pounds of trash and other debris from 16,498 miles of roadways, trails, waterways and shorelines.  Volunteers also planted 6,264 trees, bulbs, and plants in an effort to keep Pennsylvania beautiful.
             Since the inception of this event in 2004, over 54 million pounds of litter and waste have been removed from Pennsylvania’s landscape, and tens of thousands of trees, bulbs, and flowers have been planted.
     The Great American Cleanup of PA is sponsored by Keep America Beautiful.  The 2010 national sponsors were The Dow Chemical Company, Glad Trash Bags, Nestlé Pure Life Purified Water, o.b. tampons, Pepsi-Cola Company, ScottsMiracle-Gro Company, Solo Cup Company, Troy-Bilt, Waste Management, and Wrigley’s.
            A copy of the report is available online.  For more information, visit DEP's Litter Program webpage or contact Michael Texter at 717-783-6006.

7/19/2010

Go To Preceding Article     Go To Next Article

Return to This PA Environment Digest's Main Page