Something new and exciting is happening in Pennsylvania this spring! Just in time for Earth Day, all Pennsylvania schools and school districts are being invited to join the new Pennsylvania Litter-Free School Zone Program.

The program is being sponsored by the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful organization and the Department of Environmental Protection and is being administered with the help of the Pennsylvania Resources Council.

The Litter-Free Schools Zones Program is designed to encourage students to keep their school grounds litter free and to raise the public’s awareness of litter via a “Litter-Free School Zone” sign to be placed outside the school.

The sign will be provided once the school enrolls with a simple agreement, pledging to patrol the school grounds once per week, keeping a tally of trash and recyclables collected, and striving to make school events as litter-free as possible.

“The examples set by the schools in our communities are important,” said Barley Van Clief, who serves as a contact the program. “With this new program, the schools can help encourage students and the surrounding community to care for their school yard, their own backyards, the local neighborhood and the global community. The Litter-Free School Zone project is an opportunity to develop a school-wide stewardship ethic, and also to set an example for the community.”

The appearance of litter on the ground – no matter how it got there – reflects an aura of disrespect, disrepair and neglect. Regular maintenance is critical because one instance of litter encourages more litter to accumulate in the same area.

The Litter-Free School Zone program strives to resolve the issue of littering in two ways:

· Clean-Up:Remove existing and deposited litter as soon as possible after it appears, so that further littering will be less likely to occur; and

· Prevention: Create a sense of understanding, caring and responsibility -- often described as environmental stewardship -- in our children so that they will not think of littering as an acceptable behavior in their world.

The ultimate goal is a cleaner, more beautiful community, with a strong sense of civic pride. As more students participate in the Litter-Free School Zone, we hope that there will soon be less litter to clean up. As residents drive past the signs and see the clean schoolyard, they also will be less inclined to deposit litter.

School administrators and teachers are urged to visit the Litter-Free School Zones webpage to learn about the program and sign up online. They can also refer questions to Barley Van Clief 610-353-1555 ext 221 or send email to: vanclief@prc.org .

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