Wearing orange, reflective vests and with garbage bags and pokers in hand, Bradford and area residents cleaned up the community Saturday.
Organizers said residents should be smarter about recycling to help avoid some of the waste that gets thrown or blown across roads and trails.
“Ninety per cent of whatever we pick up is recycling,” such as newsprint, flyers, and light plastics blown away from blue boxes set at curbside on collection day, said organizer Mike O’Hare.
He urged residents to remember to weigh down their recyclables to prevent them from blowing away, and to get extra blue boxes from the town for $5 each, instead of overfilling them.
About 10 per cent of what the volunteers pick up is from “people throwing stuff away,” such as bottles, candy wrappers and plastic bags, he said.
Occasionally clean-up crews discover larger items, including appliances, dumped in public spaces.
“It’s amazing what people will do to save a little trip to the 12th Line landfill,” O’Hare said.
In past years, volunteers have made some odd finds, including a purse, tires, even a hand grenade that was not live.
