COLUMBUS, Ohio — It’s busiest week of the year for one Columbus program aimed at keeping the city clean and waste free.
Keep Columbus Beautiful works year-round to do just that, but efforts are ramping up the weekend following Earth Day.
More than 700 volunteers are expected to be out planting trees, picking up litter and working on community gardens on Saturday at the following locations:
- South Central Hilltop 20th Annual Cleanup: Boroughs Park, 11 a.m.
- Hashtag 59 Earth Day Cleanup: Whetstone Highschool, 10 a.m.
The two events happening this weekend are full for the first time, according to Aryeh Alex, manager at Keep Columbus Beautiful.
“We're now seeing a real uptick in people wanting to step up and clean up their community,” said Alex. “We're seeing more litter and trash out there now more than ever, particularly, we see a lot of PPE that's out there we see face masks and gloves and to go containers for food. These are new food waste streams that are out in our community, and we need to capture those and clean them up before they get into our waterways.”
Keep Columbus Beautiful provides all the tools and safety equipment. Members can even organize a trash pickup from a group gathering.
The program also provides free recycling bins to Columbus residents who call 311.
“The national litter study and it says there's about 152 pieces of litter per person,” said Alex. “And that's what we look at here in our community. Surprisingly, we see a lot of litter on our streets and sidewalks but the majority of litter, 52% of litter, is actually in our waterways and we may not see it.”
Keep Columbus Beautiful also has a trash vacuum used for alleyways, and new litter pickup up equipment is being tested for highways keep volunteers and employees from being on the side of the road.