PA Environment Digest Blog: Keep PA Beautiful Urges Residents To Take Pride In Pennsylvania-- A Pandemic Is No Reason To Litter

On April 1, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful joins with others in encouraging residents to walk outside and enjoy the beauty their communities have to offer.

With that in mind, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful is asking residents to take pride in Pennsylvania and not to litter.

“We're heartened by many stories of residents getting outside and reconnecting with their neighborhoods, parks and trails. Unfortunately, there’ve also been stories of people leaving litter, dog waste and even graffiti behind in state parks and forests and other places,” said Shannon Reiter, President of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.

The increased litter puts an undue strain on the already reduced staff at state and municipal parks and recreation departments across the state.

“If you’re one of the many Pennsylvanians spending time outdoors, please respect the environment and dispose of trash properly. Remember, if you pack it in, you can pack it out. A pandemic is no reason to litter. There’s no acceptable time to litter,” Reiter said.

To help protect Pennsylvanians’ health and safety, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful recently suspended its annual statewide Pick Up Pennsylvania initiative, which supports upwards of 5,000 cleanups each spring from March 1 through May 31.

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful will support this initiative once the threat of COVID-19 passes and social distancing restrictions are lifted.

Details concerning free cleanup supplies of bags, gloves and safety vests and free or reduced cost landfill space will be communicated as they become available.

For updates, visit the Pick Up Pennsylvania webpage or KPB’s Facebook page.

Last year, 92,342 volunteers participated in the statewide spring cleanup campaign, collecting over 7 million pounds of trash and recyclables and 19,082 tires and planting 8,580 flowers and other plants.

“At Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, we are focused on staying positive. We look forward to continuing our programs and providing the resources needed to continue improving our neighborhoods, trails and parks. Until then, it is up to each individual to take initiative to keep our communities clean,” said Reiter.