Volunteers Sought To Help Prevent Litter, Keep Beaches Clean In East Hampton

EAST HAMPTON, NY — The East Hampton recycling and litter committee is seeking volunteers to help keep beaches and the community cleaner.

Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, liaison to the recycling and litter committee, along with Kathleen Kirkwood, recycling and litter committee chair, continue to host an open forum on the second Thursday of every month at 4:00 p.m. in Town Hall, located at 139 Pantigo Road, to discuss a variety of initiatives to reduce waste, promote recycling, and keep the community and beaches cleaner.

The mission of the committee is to "create, develop and implement informational and educational projects, activities, initiatives and campaigns, with the town board's approval, that are designed to reduce and prevent litter, increase recycling, raise public awareness and encourage active involvement of the community in these efforts," a release said.

Achievements in 2017 include teaming up with the Concerned Citizens of Montauk for an East End beach clean-up — beach and area clean-ups will continue to be a 2017 committee initiative, the group said.

In addition, recycling and litter committee events will now be posted on the town website under the "community" tab, so volunteers can find its events and participate easily.

A public service announcement about updated beach fire debris regulations was scripted and narrated by Kathleen Kirkwood for WLNG; it is now available for easy access on the town website. Public service announcements are also posted on the LTV crawl, and one informed the public that the town now requires beach fires to be contained. A town parks employee commented that there seems to be a reduction in overall beach fires due to the effective outreach of the recycling and litter committee, a release said.

In addition, a current initiative is underway to expand the Adopt-a-Road program into a “user friendly” sign-up system online, and to work with town trustees to establish an Adopt-a-Beach program.

The Recycling and Litter Committee is a volunteer group and is looking for new part time and year round members. Those interested should contact Sylvia Overby at soverby@ehamptonny.gov or by calling 631-324-2620.