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Volunteers Needed For Lake Erie, Southeast PA Coastal Cleanups September 25
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PA CleanWays-Keep PA Beautiful and the Department of Environmental Protection, along with other local organizations and community leaders, this week invited the public’s help in cleaning up along Lake Erie and Southeast PA as part of the International Coastal Cleanup.
The cleanup will take place at sites throughout the Lake Erie region from on 9 a.m. until noon on September 25. For information about cleanups in Erie County contact Don Benczkowski of DEP's Coastal Resources Management Program at 814-217-9634 or send email to: ordbenczkows@state.pa.us.
There are also Coastal Cleanups scheduled for September 25 in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia counties. Contact Michelle Dunn for more information by sending email to: mdunn@pacleanways.org or call toll-free 877-772-3673.
In the past seven years, more than 5,000 participants collected more than 45 tons of debris and trash from the Lake Erie shoreline and watershed.
“This cleanup continues to grow and improve each year,” DEP Northwest Regional Director Kelly Burch said. “As the result of a newly formed partnership with the Erie County Recycling Office, we are putting a special focus on recyclable materials collected during the cleanup. We look forward to a strong volunteer turnout to help make this recycling effort a success.”
Erie County Recycling Coordinator Don Blakesley said volunteers will separate recyclable material from the rest of the debris that is collected so that it can be salvaged rather than sent to a landfill.
“It doesn’t matter how sandy or dirty the recyclable materials are,” Blakesley said. “Going this extra step helps to preserve our resources and save landfill space for material that really belongs there.”
This year’s International Coastal Cleanup will include 15 sites along the Lake Erie shoreline from Raccoon Creek in western Erie County to the North East Marina, 20 Mile Creek and Freeport Beach on the eastern end of the county. Downtown Erie neighborhoods will participate through the Erie Downtown Partnership.
“Local colleges and universities provide hundreds of volunteers each year and we thank them for their ongoing support,” DEP Coastal Resources Management Environmental Planner and event coordinator Don Benczkowski said. “The cleanup just wouldn’t be the same without students from Gannon, Penn State-Erie, Lake Erie College of Medicine and Mercyhurst. Combined with younger kids from area school districts, Boy Scout and Girl Scout groups, fishing organizations and the general public, the cleanup makes a big impact on the watershed’s health and the Erie area quality of life.”
The information gathered in past cleanups was used as educational material for environmental programs in local schools and highlighted in the Erie Times-News’ Newspapers in Education section.
International Coastal Cleanup is the oldest and largest volunteer project of its kind in the world and this year is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
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9/20/2010 |
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