Residents helping to beautify Washington Township for 15th year
The threat of rain wasn’t enough to stop the Washington Township Environmental Commission from hosting its 15th annual clean up day on Oct. 13.
Vicky Binetti, chair of the environmental commission, said they had 150 participants despite the suboptimal weather.
“We had all ages, from young children with parents to adults from organizations,” she said. “Student volunteers, Boy Scout troops, special clubs and classes from the high school, folks from local churches and citizen volunteers.”
Binetti said there were a few specific areas that troops of volunteers were deployed to. Those places were: Washington Lake Park by Cedar Lake (commonly referred to as Washington Lake), Ron Heck Memorial Park (by Grenloch Lake), Quay Park, Holly Avenue football field, roadsides near Birches Elementary School, American Boulevard (behind the bowling alleys and Regal Cinema), Fairmont Drive, Meadow Run and Watson Drive.
From 10 a.m. to noon, volunteers cleaned up those areas and separated litter and trash into black trash bags while placing recyclables into large paper bags akin to the ones used for lawn trimmings. Binetti said that in a short two hours the volunteers were able to collect 72 bags worth of trash totalling 735 pounds; and they had 20 bags of recyclables totalling 58 pounds.
Binetti gave credit where it’s due in thanking the public works staff for cleaning up after those who were cleaning up.
“The public works staff was terrific in helping us clean up after the clean up crews,” she said. “Teams would leave the bags at a curb or a part of a parking lot and the public works department would come by and pick up the litter and trash so there are no remnants.”
While the environmental commission hosts one big fall clean up day annually, it wanted to spread the message to volunteers about things to monitor throughout the year. This year, a brochure was given to volunteers with some information about plastic pollution.
Per the brochure, half of the plastic ever manufactured has been made in the last 15 years. Approximately 450 million tons were made in 2015 alone. It goes on to say that some scientists predict that by 2050 there will be more pounds of plastic in the ocean than fish. The information ends with some ways to combat plastic pollution including: bringing your own bags instead of using plastic bags at stores, using a reusable water bottle, skipping plastic straws and recycling plastics — plastic items labeled 1 through 7 can be placed in a recycling container after being rinsed to remove residue.
“This is something we can do something about,” Binetti said. “If everybody does their part and considers themselves stewards of the environment, we can make a difference.”
Binetti added the other 364 days per year a litter patrol sweeps the township to keep it clean.
“It’s a couple of guys that go around during the week and regularly pick up trash too,” she said. “They do a fabulous job. They’re the ones who spruce us up all during the year.”
The 15th annual clean up day wouldn’t have had the same result without some help from the community.
“We had a lot of support from the community,” Binetti said. “Businesses contributed food, materials like safety vests and gloves. We’re grateful for their participation as well. I think it was a real success. We were concerned about the weather but decided to go ahead and our volunteers decided the same thing, which was really terrific.”
