The Department of Environmental Protection encourages all Pennsylvanians to participate in a local cleanup or beautification event as part of the Great American Cleanup of PA.

“Celebrate Earth Month by organizing or participating in a cleanup in your hometown,” DEP Acting Secretary John Quigley said. “Thanks to the thousands of volunteers who donate their time and efforts each year, every Pennsylvanian has great opportunity to make a big impact in communities across the state.”

Local cleanups are taking place in every county between now and May 31.

Anyone can organize and register their cleanup event to receive free cleanup supplies such as bags, gloves and vests. Registered cleanups taking place during “Pick It Up, PA days” April 11 to May 4 have access to reduced or free disposal at participating landfills.

The Great American Cleanup of PA is a collaboration of the departments of Environmental Protection and Transportation, and the non-profit organization Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.

To promote the cleanups, DEP and PENNDOT produced a 30-second public service announcement, airing on Pennsylvania television and radio stations through the end of April. To view the PSA, go to DEP’s YouTube channel.

“PennDOT and its volunteers in the Adopt-A-Highway program are passionate about our environment,” said PennDOT Acting Secretary Leslie S. Richards. “We are proud to work with our partners at DEP to raise awareness and provide supplies to help us all take an active role in keeping our communities healthy and beautiful.”

Since the inaugural cleanup in 2004, more than 1.5 million volunteers have picked up 80.5 million pounds of litter and waste, along 146,259 miles of roads, waterways, shorelines, and trails and planted more than 136,300 trees, bulbs, and flowers. Volunteers also removed more than 202,350 tires and 130,218 pounds of scrap metal.

All the tools needed to register and organize a cleanup are available on the Great American Cleanup of PA’s website. To learn about other events taking place during Earth Month, visit DEP’s Earth Day Central webpage.

4/20/2015