Keeping the wilds Beautiful!

Help Keep the Pennsylvania Wilds Beautiful

When I moved to St Marys last August I was really happy to see that there is such a good recycling program here.  It is great to have curbside pickup of glass, newsprint and cans and a recycling center for everything else.  On my recent visit to the center I talked with Bekki Titchner, the recycling coordinator, and she said that the volume of recycling has nearly doubled at their new location at 850 Washington Street in St Marys.  The center is much easier to find and it is a drive-through facility, so everyone stays dry and items are easy to drop off.

Unfortunately, not everyone is concerned about disposing of trash properly.  Last week I joined my fellow Rotarians to pick up litter along the road to Ridgway.  I had never noticed a lot of trash along the roads, but our bags filled quickly.  I did a little research and on the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful website the Top 5 Types of Trash documented by volunteers were cigarette butts, food wrappers, plastic beverage bottles, glass beverage bottles and bottle caps – and, I definitely picked up all of those!

Considering that it takes months or years for those items to decompose, we need to do better.  So don’t drop that cigarette butt or wrapper or bottle.  Teach your kids and grand kids not to litter.  Contact Adopt-A-Highway and commit to picking up trash on a two-mile section of highway four times a year.  You can make a difference and become a part of keeping the Pennsylvania Wilds beautiful.