Pennsylvania litter cleanups resume during pandemic reopening phase; volunteers needed

Greensburg-based nonprofit Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful is partnering with PennDOT and the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to recruit volunteers for a statewide litter pickup campaign this fall.

The Pick Up Pennsylvania effort is particularly needed since a similar campaign planned last spring suffered a double-whammy from the covid-19 pandemic.

“It put group cleanup events on hold, while at the same time, littering increased in state parks and many other places as more people pursued outdoor activities,” DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell said in a statement.

Organized cleanups, including those by groups participating in PennDOT’s Adopt-A-Highway program, were suspended in the spring, when many counties were under stay-at-home orders.

Now that all counties are in the more-relaxed green phase of pandemic restrictions, organizers are encouraging litter cleanups — as long as volunteers follow precautions such as wearing face coverings and maintaining social distancing. Participation should be held to no more than 250 people when outdoors and 25 or less when indoors.

“For Pick Up Pennsylvania, we’re encouraging people to do safe and small-group or safe and solo litter cleanup events,” said Deborah Klenotic, DEP spokeswoman.

The fall anti-litter campaign begins Tuesday and continues through Nov. 30.

All those planning a local cleanup, including Adopt-A-Highway groups, are asked register their event with Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful at keeppabeautiful.org.

It will help the nonprofit track cleanup efforts and the resulting litter removed from the state’s roadsides, neighborhoods, parks and shorelines, according to Heidi Pedicone, director of programs for Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.

“We’re advocating for families to clean together,” she said. She noted Pennsylvania’s fall campaign coincides with the International Coastal Cleanup, a global drive to keep litter from polluting local waterways and eventually ending up in the planet’s oceans.

“We see a whole lot of interest in the event,” she said, as people become more aware of the need to protect the environment. “Everything flows downstream.” Those who register a fall cleanup event can get free trash bags, gloves and safety vests provided by campaign sponsors, she said. Volunteers will have to provide their own additional personal protective equipment, including face masks.

Pedicone said some partner organizations may be supplied with litter grabbers that allow volunteers to pick up unsanitary trash while keeping at a distance.

Adding to that category of litter during the pandemic are improperly discarded face masks. Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s website offers tips for handling such items — with a broom, shovel or tongs — along with other guidelines for safely conducting a cleanup event during the pandemic.

The fall 2019 Pick Up Pennsylvania campaign included 382 events, where 12,610 volunteers collectively removed 488,135 pounds of trash from the state’s watersheds and waterways.

Through the Adopt-A-Highway program, volunteers collect litter on a 2-mile section of state highway at least twice per year. The program has more than 5,100 participating groups, more than 107,000 volunteers and 8,300 miles of adopted roadways.

That includes 11,054 volunteers in Allegheny County, 2,983 in Westmoreland County and 1,181 in Armstrong County.