Spring clean your community with the Adopt-a-Mile program
/It is time to start thinking about your spring cleaning plans!
This time last year a lot of us were stuck at home and got a lot of decluttering and deep cleaning done inside our homes. This year, how about thinking of cleaning outside your house?
The Cowan Law Firm has picked up 780 pounds of trash throughout the time that the group has adopted a mile.
With Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, residents can check out litter supplies and clean up any area of the community by adopting a spot or mile. This program is decades old, but each year new volunteers and old help clean up the community.
Cleaning up litter helps support local wildlife, human health and even improves your property value. There are numerous endangered creatures here in Whitfield County, including the Conasauga logperch and the Georgia pigtoe mussel, and helping clean up litter that has fallen out of uncovered truck beds, thrown out of windows or simply forgotten helps protect their environment and keep them healthy. Without the litter being picked up they are in danger of becoming strangled, tangled up or ingesting large amounts of plastic.
Living in a clean environment is healthier for you, too! More beautiful and clean spaces have been shown to increase how often people exercise outside and leads to healthier bodies and more peaceful minds.
Adopt-a-Mile is an easy to implement program that you can participate in each quarter of the year on the date and time of your group’s choosing. The number of participants can be small or large, and the amount of time you spend cleaning up a roadway is completely up to you. Each group is invited to adopt a road that is half a mile to one mile in length, and commit to removing litter from both sides of the road at least four times per year (once per quarter) or, if adopting an area such as a cul-de-sac or park, cleaning up all of the encompassing square feet.
Residents or businesses that adopt an area request supplies by emailing ahartline@dwswa.org and scheduling a time to pick up items like trash bags, litter grabbers and vests from the Dalton Recycling Center.
After pickup, they head out to clean their space and, if desired, can even receive an editable flyer that they can use to help spread the word to others who may want to volunteer. On the next sunny day, they head out and pick up all litter they can find along their area.
At the end of the cleanup, a volunteer can take the full trash bags to the nearest convenience center for free or call (706) 278-5001 to schedule a pickup of the bags on a curbside. They enjoy a job well done and newly cleaned area and send a report in to dwswa.org/adopt-a-mile so that Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful can keep track and report to everyone how much was collected through the entire year and community.
Roads that have been adopted are recognized by the placement of an Adopt-a-Mile sign with the adopting organization’s name at both the beginning and end of the mile. To qualify for the road signs, you’ll need to complete four reported cleanups within the one year of joining the program. To help cover the cost of two road signs a donation of $75 is suggested.
Picking up litter can be fun! Challenge those you are with to see who can pick up the fastest or the most.
Keep your eye out for odd finds especially! Some of the weirdest pieces of litter found over the years includes a clarinet, a radio frequency system and an airsoft gun. Your find may be added to the list of weird finds if you report it!
In 2020, volunteers cleaned up 3,060 pounds over 28 miles. The groups included families such as the Silvers and Sampson Brock families, businesses like Shaw Industries and Adcock Financial, and community groups such as St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and Whitfield County 4-H.
Can you help double that number in 2021 by adopting an area?
Amy Hartline is the recycling and education program coordinator for the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority. Have a recycling question? Contact her at (706) 278-5001 or at ahartline@dwswa.org.