Annual Adopt-A Highway Spring Cleanup Aims To Beat Last Year’s Numbers

Saturday’s statewide Adopt-A Highway spring cleaning should make our country roads much less cluttered. Nearly 300 groups, with more than 2,600 participants, are registered to comb Mountain State main and back roads, picking up tons of trash.

The annual spring cleanup is hosted by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Division of Highways. 

Terry Fletcher, the chief communications officer for the DEP, said volunteers will be provided with all necessary protective gear and pick up materials. 

Fletcher said DEP is hoping to recruit more Adopt-A-Highway groups and members with the statewide event.

“We have a Youth Environmental Program that does a really great job with helping to promote this as well,” Fletcher said. “They’re talking to school groups and students across the state about ways they can join in and pitch in to help clean up their communities.”

Fletcher said tossed out trash is not just an eyesore – it’s an environmental hazard and a physical danger. 

”This stuff that you throw out of your car, it’s gonna find its way into a stream,” he said. “It’s gonna find its way into people’s yards and into our forests, stuff that can cause all kinds of environmental issues and problems.”

Fletcher said a spring cleanup goal is to surpass the 68,000 pounds of trash removed from more than 800 miles of roadway last year.

Click here for information on how to get involved.