By Fawn Contreras, Outings Leader, Northeast Pennsylvania Group
In 2021, the Northeast Pennsylvania Sierra Club Group (NEPA) and the Valley Community Library started a unique series of Community Clean-Up events. They partnered with local organizations to bring the community together to pick up litter. Fawn Contreras, an Outings Leader with the Sierra Club and the Head of Youth Services at the Valley Community Library, created this series of programs to engage people of all ages to study what is being tossed out, uplift the work of other organizations, and hold conversations about the environment and litter prevention.
Last year, Fawn led 13 Community Clean-Ups throughout the year at 12 different locations. Over 120 people participated, and they collected over 111 bags of litter.
This year their partnership has grown considerably. The NEPA Sierra Club and Valley Community Library are excited to present 17 different Community Clean-Up Events from March to the end of May! Fifteen of these events are open to the public to attend. Volunteers will be given a custom event T-shirt and litter journal while supplies last.
Once again this year, participants will be studying everything collected, holding conversations, and there will be a display inside the Valley Community Library that shows how the litter adds up. Gloves, vests, and garbage bags are provided by Keep PA Beautiful.
They hope you'll be able to volunteer for one of these events.
- Saturday, April 8th, will be an 18 and over clean-up along the Scranton Expressway at Keyser Ave in Scranton with the North Scranton Rotary Club and the Scranton Public Libraries.
- Thursday, April 13th, join the Abington Community Library and Marywood University in Dickson City as we clean up the far side of a parking lot that looks like a dumping site.
- Saturday, April 15th, there will be two different cleanup events happening. Start the morning with the Lackawanna County Environmental Office as we pick up Aylesworth Park. Then join Scranton Tomorrow and the Scranton Public Libraries in Downtown Scranton as we clean around storm drains and learn how litter affects flooding and our watershed.
- Sunday, April 16th join Queer NEPA and their youth council to pick up part of Main Street Archbald where last year they collected over 19 bags of litter!
- Thursday, April 20th the Girl Scouts will be joining us to pick up a small park in the Jessup area along with nearby roadsides, trails, and wooded areas that have been prone to litter.
- Friday, April 21st there will be a large clean-up in Jessup as we are partnering with the Jessup Youth Sports Association and Citizens for a Healthy Jessup to pick up around the Sports Complex, roadside and nearby wooded areas.
- Celebrate Earth Day, Saturday April 22nd with 2 clean-ups in one day! Start your morning off with an early 9 A.M. cleanup with the Carbondale Public Library at a family friendly park. Later join our partners at the Black Scranton Project to pick up areas of North Scranton.
- Sunday, April 23rd we will be partnering with the Scranton Public Libraries to pick up some local green spaces at Nay Aug Park.
- Monday, April 24th the Valley Community Library will wrap up Earth Month with a cleanup at the Library where we will meet then pick up connecting parking areas and the Blakely Complex and playgrounds.
May will bring an additional 4 more cleanups as we partner with the Viewmont Mall, Taylor Public Library, the Boy Scouts and visit the Carbondale Public Library again. More information and dates for those events will soon be on the Sierra Club website.
The 2022 Spring Litter Study breakdown is listed here:
10 clean-ups at 10 different locations from parking lots, to roadsides, and small town parks:
14 tires
Over 904 cigarette butts
456 plastic bottles
255 cans
115 single-use plastic bags
93 glass bottles
This blog was included as part of the April 2023 Sylvanian newsletter. Please click here to check out more articles from this edition!