Morris Plains Makes a Clean Sweep to Pick Up Litter

During the end of April twenty-four (24) different groups scoured the town of Morris Plains to clean up litter that accumulated over the winter months. Along roadways and blown into wooded areas, litter is not only unsightly but dangerous for wildlife. Studies have shown that trash such as an apple core or orange peel will break down quickly, but plastic and glass can take hundreds of years to break down. It isn’t going to disappear on its own. From preschoolers through high school aged participants, the Morris Plains groups fanned out to make the town spick and span to welcome spring.

New Jersey Clean Communities is a statewide, comprehensive, litter-abatement program created by the passage of the Clean Communities Act back in 1986. The Act provides a funding source for the program by placing a tax on fifteen categories of businesses that may produce litter-generating products. The Clean Communities Program Fund generates about $20 million each year and eighty percent of the money goes to municipalities according to their size.

The Morris Plains Clean Communities program now has so many participating groups that besides spring and fall cleanups, several more groups go out to clean the heavily used parks during the summer.Rachel Sambrowski, a long-time participant as leader to several girl scout troops has seen the ongoing need for the program stating, “It’s a win-win program where the kids can earn money to use for their activities and the town stays looking great!”

Older and adult volunteer groups like the Boy Scouts, Municipal Alliance and Police Benevolent Association (PBA) take on the challenge of the most heavily used roadways. This year the Morris Plains PBA picked up a record 18–32-gallon bags of trash and 5 of recyclables along Littleton Road and the entrance to Route 10. Coordinator Patrolman Nick Grawehr says he never knows what they will find when they go out on a cleanup, from wood scraps to bicycle parts.

The Clean Communities Program provides guidelines on the use of funds. Municipalities and counties must implement litter abatement programs that incorporate the elements of cleanup, enforcement and education. Municipalities and counties must file statistical reports with the New Jersey Clean Communities Council, Inc., every grant year. Statistical reports track the expenditure of funds and the progress of local programs. The amount of litter that is collected around Morris Plains never seems to go down and the program really makes a difference.