Hubcaps, a cowboy boot, an old tractor tire, the insides of an oven, a telephone junction box, hundreds of liquor nip bottles, and a dozen cabbage heads were some of the more curious finds among the 401 yellow and blue bags of roadside trash collected this past week in Harvard’s second annual townwide cleanup.
It was a true community effort. An estimated 300 residents, including 55 youths from the Girl and Cub Scouts, lent their time and effort cleaning up Harvard from April 27 through April 30. More than 70 miles of roads were traveled. Bags were lined up by the roadside for early Monday morning pickup by the Department of Public Works.
A group of Harvard Boy Scouts pose for a photo while picking up trash at the Depot Road playing fields, April 30. From left: Nate Collins, Jacob Furmanick, Nathan Bower, Vance Pettrosi, Griffin Boucher, and Noah Pettrosi. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
The town cleanup was a success! This was the unanimous response of the 2017 Cleanup Team at their celebratory debriefing meeting Sunday evening. Team members Libby Levison, Brian McClain, Paul Green, and Liz Ruark led the townwide call to stewardship. They were joined by partner groups: the recycle team led by Susie Macrae and Eric Broadbent, and the garlic mustard pull team including Jessie Panek, Krista Anderson, and this reporter.
“Does anyone else get emotional seeing all those bags?” said Levison to the group.
Being inspired
Even DPW Director Tim Kilhart commented when interviewed Monday morning, “It’s a positive thing—people investing in their own community.” He noted that eight truckloads of trash were picked up, tripling the amount of trash and time it took over last year.
“It’s a win-win,” said Larry Allard, DPW worker and part-time facility manager. “Everyone benefits.”
Barbara Romero picks up trash April 29 along Oak Hill Road with her two-year-old son, Jamie, and her dog, Napoleon. The previous day, Romero picked up 17 bags of trash on Mass. Ave. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
One of the benefits of choosing the same four days in late April for the cleanup is for fellow trash picker-uppers to be inspired by each other. Resident Teresa Jardon cleaned up three of five segments of Bolton Road with Cub and Daisy Scouts assisting. She wrote on Nextdoor that she found dozens of 16-ounce Bud Light cans and more than 50 peppermint schnapps bottles. Her post continued, “Thanks to all the neighbors who stopped to offer thanks and share stories of their cleanup adventures as well as those who shared a smile and a wave.”
Many residents took to email and social media to thank the organizers and volunteers. Among them, Trevor Smedley wrote, “My kids are impressed that the town gets together every year to do this—[it] sets a good model for them.”
Garlic mustard pull
Fighting black flies, ticks, and poison ivy, volunteers pulled 76 trash bags of this invasive, nonnative plant. Ninety-seven percent of the people who signed up for the townwide cleanup saw and recorded areas overrun with garlic mustard, too thick to pull by hand.
From left: Harvard townwide cleanup organizers Libby Levison, Paul Green, and Brian McClain meet up at the Harvard/Stow town line with Stow organizers Sandy and Tara Taft. (Courtesy photo)
For many residents, this was the first time they became aware of garlic mustard and the damage it does. Through flyers, posters, and information online, the garlic mustard pull team provided this information: A single plant produces thousands of seeds and spreads extremely rapidly; garlic mustard has no natural predators—deer do not eat the plant; it releases chemicals into the soil that inhibit other plants; and it smothers and crowds out native species.
“I only heard about garlic mustard a couple months ago,” said trash organizer McClain, “and today I spent five and a half hours pulling it up.” Mario Cardenas of Oak Hill Road called it a “nasty, nasty plant.”
Levison reassured volunteers not to worry if areas of garlic mustard were left. “We made headway,” wrote Levison in a summary report. With the introduction of garlic mustard to the United States in the mid-1800s, this is not a new problem. Panek, of the garlic mustard team, asked residents to email sightings to garlicmustard.harvard@gmail.com.
Recyclables
Also new this year, was the separation of recyclables—glass, metal, and plastics—into blue trash bags. Residents were asked to sort roadside trash into either yellow bags for litter or blue bags for recyclables. Last Tuesday at the Transfer Station, four volunteers worked for several hours sorting more than 150 blue bags for recycling.
Hundreds of nip bottles, many bags of beer cans, an influx of water bottles, and an assortment of liquor bottles made up the bulk of recyclables. Of interest was the citizen petition circulated by the cleanup team to enact a 5-cent deposit on nips. Ninety-four people signed the petition, according to Levison. “Will it help?” asked Tom Philippou of the Board of Health. “Who knows?”
“This year’s townwide trash pickup was hugely successful,” said Susie Macrae of the recycle team. “Grab a bag, grab a friend, and go pick up, pull, and recycle.” And then, there is always the opportunity to help out next year.
