‘Pick Up PA’ Drives Statewide Community Cleanup Efforts For Earth Day, Beyond
Cobbs Creek Ambassadors help clean up the creek in Philadelphia
(Public News Service) Across the state, more than 300 Pick Up Pennsylvania environmental events are planned for this Earth Week.
Last year, more than 77,000 volunteers removed more than 3 million pounds of trash and planted thousands of trees and flowers.
Michelle Dunn, program manager for the group Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, said Pick Up Pennsylvania is an annual volunteer effort to clean up Pennsylvania roads, parks, streams and communities. She added people who take part in these beautification events are helping to fight air and water pollution not just for Earth Day, but for the future.
“They’re helping, in many ways, picking up the trash and the illegal dumping because that clogs up our storm drains,” Dunn explained. “Sometimes illegal dumping is adjacent to a stream. If we get high water, that comes down, blocks drainage ditches. So by keeping our drains and our waterways clean of the debris, that will help the water flow and lessen flooding.”
Earlier this year, the Shapiro administration announced more than $15 million in funding to conserve and protect waterways and watersheds, reclaim abandoned mine sites and plug abandoned wells.
Dunn noted with support from the Pennsylvania Departments of Transportation and Department of Environmental Protection, communities signing up online for the local green initiatives can get free cleanup supplies such as gloves, trash bags and safety vests.
