WHAT A GREAT DAY IN BARBERTON AND WADSWORTH!

 

This morning was the Main Street Barberton Cleanup.  I drove from my house on Main, Waterloo and Wooster Road.  I didn't see any trash.  It was incredible!

I think Melanie had a nice turnout.  While I was there, she was explaining to a couple of high school boys what they needed to do.  I loved that.

I told her Wooster Road didn't look that bad.  She said it had some trash by Hopocan, so off I went.

This was the first piece of trash I found.  One bottle.  

I was thinking this might be my last time cleaning in Barberton.  They don't need me.  It looks great.  Main Street Barberton works with the City of Barberton, and what they are doing is WORKING!  

After that, I found a roll of toilet paper.  Somebody's gonna miss that!

Then I found a big pile of clothing behind the bushes.  I don't know where all that came from, but I didn't pick it up. I told Melanie about it and she will send someone to pick it up.

After that, I found more trash, and I saw another young man picking up trash.  Gosh, it feels good to see other people out picking up trash.  Not just me.

I found all these packets of hot sauce in the field beside the Taco Bell.  Why would anyone get so many and then throw them in the grass?  That's crazy!

I worked for 1 1/2 hours and picked up 1,216 pieces of trash, so it was a very good day.  

Just as I got back to my car, a couple in a pickup truck pulled up and asked me if I was the person who cleaned Hudson Run.  I said yes.  The woman said, "Wow!  I saw you real early, like 8:00, and when I was coming back home in the afternoon, you were still picking up trash!"  I told them, "Yes, I was working on that for seven hours last Saturday."

All those kind words energized me, and I headed to Wadsworth.  I saw a couple of white bags and a blue bag on the exit ramp to 261.

When I got out of my car, I saw a mess.  

There were half gallons of white and chocolate milk.  Never opened.  A huge can of some kind of hard lemonade. Never opened.  I popped the top and poured it out so I could smash the can.  

Why would someone leave all their groceries here?  That's crazy!

So I walked all the way to the other end of the exit ramp and found the white bags.  Then back down the other side and found the blue bag.

Even though it looked clean driving by, I filled a trash bag with water bottles and plastic bags.

Then I headed to the entrance ramp eastbound, and filled another big bag!  Wow!  (If an area looks clean, it's not.  If an area looks trashy, it's a mess!)

I just cleaned this area where the wind blows trash into the briars a few weeks ago, and it was all messy again.

I got that all cleaned up, and headed across the street to do the other side, but I couldn't get across the street.  Cars were nonstop, so I took my third bag of trash to the car and came home.  

I picked up trash in Wadsworth for two hours, 1,017 pieces.

Barberton and Wadsworth are so clean!  It's not because people aren't littering.  They are, but people are picking it up.

Someday, I hope there are enough people in Akron to do the same thing.  I can already see a huge difference.  Two years ago, there was trash on every street.  It's not like that anymore.

I am so pleased!!!