2,400 pounds of trash collected during clean up day

Trash. It’s everywhere you look. Road sides, side walks, along creeks, caught up in banks of lakes. It’s everywhere.

On Saturday morning, a group of 70 volunteers set out to make an impact and collected an estimated 2,420 pounds of trash during the community clean up day.

“This is believed to be the largest amount picked up on a single Clean-Up Day in Salem,” said Shelbie Stephenson, Mill Creek-Blue River Watershed project coordinator.  

In honor of Earth Day, and in an effort to “help make Salem shine,” the group gathered at Center Peace at 9 a.m. Volunteers started the day with breakfast sandwiches provided by McDonalds. Everyone was also given a free t-shirt, gloves and trash bags. Stephenson had picked out areas that needed attention and people chose where they wanted to go to pick up trash around the community.

“We could not have asked for a better morning for our volunteers!” she said. “It turned out to be a beautiful day: 45 degrees in the morning, working up to the low 60s by noon.”

Stephenson said the areas that were cleaned up included the creek bank by Goody’s, Lake Salinda, East Old 60, creek bank between Center Peace and KFC, creek bank west and southwest of Thunder Valley Raceway, Brock Creek near the soccer fields and State Road 135 North, the walking/nature trail near the YMCA and Bradie Shrum, Cox Ferry and Highland roads and a few other side streets in Salem.

“After a couple hours of picking up trash the volunteers returned to Center Peace for grilled hotdogs, chips and refreshments, compliments of Kimball Office of Salem,” said Stephenson. “Each volunteer also received a coupon for a free ice cream from Cheddar Depot.” 

Stephenson said she appreciated all the sponsors who helped make the day a success adding, “Thank you to The City of Salem and Bill Elrod for donating the use of dump trucks to collect all the trash/debris and weighing it afterwards.”

Sponsors for the community clean up day were: Kimball Office, who provided the water and lunch and helped with the t-shirts; Ace Hardware, the bags and gloves; Scotty’s Sanitation, portable restrooms; Cheddar Depot, ice cream coupons; McDonalds, breakfast. Stephenson said she also appreciated Zink Signs for the t-shirts; Salem City Council for allowing the clean-up; Joy Bierly at the mayor’s office and Cindy Walton at the street department for their kindness, patience and help; the city street department for allowing the use of a dump truck and cones and hauling the truck to the landfill; Bill Elrod for allowing volunteers to park on his property, use his dump truck and for hauling that truck to the landfill; Rick and Chris Schmidt for letting volunteers park on their property to pick up along Highland Road; John Calhoun for helping facilitate the clean-up day; Jill Roll, Diana Stephenson and Gertrude Stephenson for all their help in the preparation of and their assistance the day of. 

“It’s so awesome that we live in a community where we have that many local sponsors willing to help and we are so appreciative of that!” said Stephenson. “Also thank you to all the volunteers for their time and effort!

“I am so thrilled with the participation and results of this year’s Clean-Up and am so proud of our community to coming together for this! 

Some tips to help keep Salem clean:

When hauling your trash to the dump, put a tarp over it to prevent trash from flying out.

Slow down/be cautious when hauling trash/debris.

Keep watch and be aware of what you’re hauling so you can see if/when something flies out. 

Make the effort to go back and pick up your trash that fell/flew out of your load.

When you see trash, pick it up. 

Recycle.

Make an effort to pick up your road, a nearby road, any area in the community you care about, once a month, or as often as you can!

No matter how small or little the effort, with everyone helping a little, that can make a big difference.