ATHOL – The Green Clean Athol cleanup effort takes place this year on Saturday, April 22, the same day people around the globe will participate in events marking the 53rd anniversary of Earth Day.
“We are hoping for a big turnout,” co-organizer Heidi Strickland said. “We’ll be meeting at Lord Pond Plaza, next to the senior center – the same spot as usual. I sent letters to just about every organization and business in Athol. We’ll be here from 9 a.m. to noon and we’ll have coffee available to help everyone get going. I’ve also purchased T-shirts that will have our logo on them to make the day just a little more special.”
Strickland said about 100 people usually show up to help pick up the trash that has accumulated on Athol streets during the winter months, much of it hidden from sight by snowbanks. Once the snow melts, however, all kinds of refuse shows up along the town’s roadways. Last year, volunteers collected over two and a half tons of trash in the span of three hours.
“The town’s transfer station keeps track of all that and weighs all the trash that comes in,” said Strickland. “And once again, the town is giving us three drivers and two trucks for the morning.”
Strickland recognized volunteer Ellen Evans, who will drive her truck around to any spot in town to pick up trash if someone calls. It’s something she’s done every year.
“She really should be recognized; she really helps a lot with the Green Clean Athol event,” Strickland said. “And she’s also in charge of picking up needles; if people find needles they call us and Ellen goes out and picks them up and brings them to the police station. She’s also been doing that for years.”
One of the most plentiful pieces of trash found around town is the ubiquitous nip bottle, which holds 50 ml (about 1.7 ounces) of alcohol.
“Thousands of them,” Strickland said. “We find thousands of them. Unfortunately, we find a huge amount of nip bottles. Some years we’ve actually separated them – I think that was during the COVID year – to show that we had these huge bags full of nip bottles.”
Strickland said consumers who swig from the little bottles have favorite spots for disposing of them. Usually, they’re found in the woods and areas away from houses. She said Vine Street has a section where there are no houses, but tons of trash is found.
“There’s also a street near the railroad tracks, Tunnel Street, where you go underneath the railroad tracks going toward South Athol Road – we find hundreds of nip bottles there,” she said.
Some organizations also take part in the cleanup. Strickland is still waiting to hear from some, but “definitely the North Quabbin Recovery Center is going to bring a group of people and the Women’s Club usually comes. Last year they sent ten or 12 people.”
Organizers will provide bags and gloves to all volunteers. This year, organizers are doing their best to “recycle a lot of bags that have been used; bags that are used for mulch, wood pellets – somebody brought me 50 pellet bags. I also volunteer at the Co-op and I save all the bags that are strong enough to reuse – so I must have a hundred bags in my garage. The New England Equestrian Center of Athol – they’re saving a lot of bags from horse feed, I guess.”
Strickland and co-organizer Bonnie Benjamin will also be handing out information on how to recycle in Athol.
Volunteers are asked to meet Saturday, April 22, between 9 a.m. and noon near the senior center and Lord Pond Plaza where they will be given maps instructing them where to go for cleanup. Residents are also encouraged to do some trash pickup in their own neighborhood.
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.