CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The first of several litter cleanup events in West Virginia is scheduled to begin Saturday.
The state Department of Environmental Protection and state Division of Highways have teamed up to host the Make It Shine program to ensure that the state’s highways and public lands are free of trash.
“This is a great way for people who drive along the roads in West Virginia and they see some trash along the side of the road and people always wonder ‘what can we do about this?’ and this is a great way to take the beautification of West Virginia into their own hands,” said Jake Glance, public information specialist with the DEP.
There are over 160 cleanups scheduled to take place in 48 out of 55 counties.
More than 5,400 volunteers have already signed up, Glance said.
Glance said they’re encouraging even more people to sign up, so they can get as much trash picked up as possible.
“I think it would be fair to say that the amount of the trash that has been picked up, just last year, was probably in the hundreds of tons,” he said.
The DEP’s big Spring Cleanup is on Apr. 30. Last year, more than 10,000 volunteers helped out by collecting 17,000 bags of trash, in one day, for their Adopt a Highway program.
For more information, visit the DEP’s website.