Six weeks later, volunteers still removing trash from roadways
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princeton — While a six-week spring cleaning campaign for Mercer County may have ended, volunteers are still working to remove trash from area roadways.
In fact, officials are working this week to pick up garbage that has been dumped along parts of U.S. Route 52, near the ATV trails, said County Commissioner Greg Puckett, who coordinates the annual Keep Mercer Clean campaign.
That campaign concluded on April 30, but the work continues, according to Puckett.
'We didn't get all of the highways. We just didn't have time,' Puckett said. 'We are still going to work on it. But we are working on other high-priority areas as well.'
Route 52 near the ATV trails is one of those priority locations.
'We are out there today on 52,' Puckett said Monday. 'We went back up to Coaldale and started working our way back. We've got tons of trash down at Bramwell.'
Puckett said parts of that area, including near the creek banks and on hillsides, were cleaned earlier. But since that time people have illegally dumped more garbage in the area.
'It's just terrible. When you clean it up, you expect it to stay clean for a while,' Puckett said.
As part of the Keep Mercer Clean campaign, 71 tons of garbage was collected in the free community dumpsters and then hauled by Lusk Disposal to the Mercer County Landfill, County Administrator Vicky Reed said Monday.
A number of open dumps also were found across the county during the six-week campaign, including a site along Beckley Road where more than 2,000 pounds of trash was removed. The open dump was located only a mile from the entrance to Camp Creek State Park, a key tourism site for the region.
Puckett said another open dump was found at Crane Creek, and a third was located on Oakvale Road.
'We had three or four couches laying off Country Girl Road,' he added.
Puckett said a record amount of trash was likely disposed of during the six-week campaign.
Much of the garbage was collected during two of the four free dumpster days.
'We've never been that busy,' Puckett said of the free dumpster days, which were held each Saturday in April in different communities. 'I mean the first and the third Saturdays were the ones that were the roughest. We would literally pack a box and wait for the next box.'
Puckett said some of the individuals who took advantage of the free dump days were flood victims, who were disposing of items that were damaged by the Feb. 15 flood.
The amount of trash collected on the second and fourth Saturday in April was less. Rain, and colder temperatures, impacted the community turn-out during those two days.
Puckett said the community response to the free dumpster days was very good.
'It told me 100 percent without fail that we have to put mobile drop sites somewhere in this county,' Puckett said, referencing his earlier proposal to install free dumpsters or convenience stations for trash disposal in different communities across the county on a year-round basis.
However, such a plan would require support from the full county commission and the approval of the county's solid waste authority board.
Puckett said those individuals who are illegally dumping trash across Mercer County need to stop. He said officials are looking for information regarding those individuals who contributed to the most recent open dump sites so that the guilty parties can be cited.
'I'm constantly amazed by how much we clean up,' Puckett said of the Keep Mercer Clean volunteers. 'Just to keep cleaning up the way we do. I don't mind doing it because we have to make our place look better.'
Puckett said more clean-up events will be held in the weeks ahead.
Contact Charles Owens at
cowens@bdtonline.com
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