Time to pick it up

MILFORD — Volunteers for this year’s Great American Cleanup of Pennsylvania are pulling on their work gloves.
The roadside litter cleanup campaign is sponsored each year by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Twelve cleanup days are scheduled in Pike County starting April 9.
“Pennsylvania is a beautiful state, and it’s imperative that we work together to keep it that way,” PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards said. “I urge individuals to join the thousands of volunteers in their communities to participate in the cleanup this year to keep Pennsylvania not only esthetically beautiful, but environmentally safe.”
Interested individuals can find a listing of cleanup events, resources for organizing a cleanup, and other information about the effort online at www.gacofpa.org.
Groups interested in adopting a section of highway are encouraged to contact their local PennDOT County Maintenance office and ask for the AAH coordinator, or visit penndot.gov (under “About us"). Groups interested in adopting a locally maintained road, contact Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful (keeppabeautiful.org under “Keep It").
“In addition to litter pick-up events, volunteers also organize recycling events for hard to dispose of items, helping to reduce illegal dumping that threatens public health and damages the environment,” DEP Secretary John Quigley said. “Volunteers can also take part by planting bulbs and trees that not only beautify our green spaces but helps to prevent run off pollution to our waterways.”
Also as part of this year’s cleanup, the PA Route 6 Alliance encourages residents near the Route 6 Heritage Corridor to register at gacofpa.org for their “Route 6 Round-up” beautification efforts.
During last year’s Great American Cleanup, 6 million pounds of litter was collected from Pennsylvania’s roads, trails and shorelines by more than 128,000 volunteers.