“PA CleanWays of Allegheny County, Inc.,” an affiliate of PA CleanWays” is a bit of a mouthful… and all too often abbreviated to PA CleanWays, which created more confusion with the state PA CleanWays organization.

To resolve the dilemma, the Allegheny county affiliate of PA CleanWays resolved to modify its name and logo to highlight its service area.

Executive Director Mary W. Wilson notes, “While our mission and services continue to be directly in line with the state organization, it is critical that our constituents understand exactly who we are and that we are work only within this county. The new name and logo reflect that focus more clearly. The cleaner distinction between the county affiliate and statewide umbrella organization helps to delineate each organization’s scope of work and function.”

Because the Allegheny County organization has a staff, it is deemed an “affiliate” of the state network. Volunteer-only county groups are called “chapters”.

During the 2007 season alone, Allegheny CleanWays volunteers and partners removed over 20.75 tons of debris, 550 tires and nearly 3 tons of scrap metal and 47 bags of recyclables from local riverbanks, greenways, hillsides and vacant lots. Engaging residents is critical to the mission of Allegheny CleanWays. With just one full time employee and a part-time contracted staff person, they rely on volunteers to do much of the work. In 2007 alone, over 450 volunteers worked to collect the debris listed above.

The organization empowers other groups as well by providing training to community cleanup coordinators, and distributing equipment for community litter collections. This year alone, Allegheny CleanWays distributed cleanup supplies from PennDOT to 47 community groups. Of those reporting their results, nearly 1800 volunteers had collected approximately 75 tons of litter in their respective communities around the county.

Allegheny CleanWays always welcomes community alerts to illegal dumps sites or invitations to help with community litter collections. To reach them for more information about volunteering, cleanup coordinator training, or other programs, contact them at 412-381-1301 or send email to: pacw_ac@hotmail.com .

12/14/2007