Turtle Whisperer Visits Mt. Way School Students in Morris Plains

This week Steve Woyce, better known as the “Turtle Whisperer” entranced young students at Mountain Way School in Morris Plains to teach them the dangers of litter for reptiles and other wildlife. Too many times, animals think litter is food and try to eat it. Woyce said that “by showing the kids how vulnerable animals are, it helps to make them more aware of how important keeping out parks and roadside clear of litter actually is.”

“We want to keep wildlife safe,” Steve advises the young students, adding “just by picking up one or two plastic bags carelessly tossed, may be making a bigger difference than we realize.” The students were already aware of the need to protect their environment, and they chimed in that they are committed to reduce, reuse and recycle!

The program is made possible by funds appropriated to Morris Plains through the New Jersey Clean Communities Program. 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.

The Morris Plains Clean Communities program currently has twenty-eight groups that clean up litter twice a year, and a secopnd cleanup at the town parks during the summer.