Published: April 10, 2008 07:31 pm            

It is time for spring cleaning

The 2008 Great American Cleanup began in March and continues through May.

The organization Keep America Beautiful estimates that nearly 3 million volunteers will participate in 30,000 events in more than 17,000 communities nationwide.

We can all be part of that effort.

In 2007, cleanup efforts resulted in 200 million pounds of litter and debris removed from America’s landscape, including the removal of 3,500 illegal dump sites and more than 10,000 abandoned vehicles. Participants planted 4.6 million trees, flowers and bulbs and collected more than 2.2 million scrap tires, 22.4 million pounds of aluminum and steel, 592,000 pounds of wireless phones and related equipment and more than 70 million plastic bottles for recycling.

This past weekend, the Indiana Department of Transportation, the Indiana Department of Correction and Adopt-A-Highway groups kicked off a statewide effort to clean up Indiana’s highways during Trash Bash. The effort will continue through April 27.

Keeping Indiana’s highways clear of trash costs the state more than $2 million a year, and Trash Bash helps to limit that expense.

Last year, those involved in the effort collected more than 34,500 bags of trash from 3,000 miles of state highways and rights-of-way.

You can help

If you see trash on the sidewalk, pick it up, and if you see a yard in need of a cleanup, let someone know about it.

Convince your civic organization or youth group to adopt a stretch of highway. Organize a neighborhood cleanup.

Above all, make sure you’re not part of the problem. Carry a litter bag in your car instead of tossing trash out the window.

Make sure your trash can lids are securely fastened, and tie up your bags and bundles of newspapers to make sure the trash you put out by the curb doesn’t blow around the neighborhood.

With some effort, we can make our communities more attractive. Let’s all do our part.

– Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, and Kokomo Tribune

        

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