By William Smith
Community Editor
Burlington’s annual Earth Day Clean-Up returns for its 21st year this Saturday and will start in a different location from previous years.
The event, which always lands on or around Earth Day, is set to start at 8 a.m. Saturday, April 23 at Community Field. The event is usually held at the Port of Burlington, but the TIGER Grant-funded construction surrounding the port building doesn’t make it feasible this year.
As always, the cleanup is being hosted by the Keep Burlington Beautiful committee. The official cleanup is slated to be from 8 to 11 a.m., but volunteers can also clean at other times.
“We just want take pride in our community,” said Keep Burlington Beautiful committee member Jessica Gerling. “This is the area that we all inhabit, and this gives people the ability to give back, and to meet other people in the community.”
Despite the location change, the event will work much as it has in previous years. Groups of volunteers armed with trash bags will spread out across the Burlington area, from Bonn’s Hollow to the highway exit points in between. Before the volunteers head out, they need to stop by Community Field for a drive-through experience that will supply them with all the materials they need.
There will even be free smoothies. LED lightbulbs will be provided to the first 50 people by the Renewable Energy Committee.
“We will have tents set up at Community Field, and people will stop by, get their location they will be cleaning, and sign a waiver,” Gerling said. “Then they will move over to the next tent, and Des Moines County Conservation will be passing out safety vests and gloves and trash bags.”
Once the volunteers are done cleaning up, they’ll either bring the loaded trash bags back to Community Field to be loaded in a solid waste truck or leave them and mark the location via text message so the bags can be picked up by city crews.
"Dress appropriately and wear shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty. If you have any extended grabbers you want to use, or heavy gloves, bring those. We just have the vinyl, nitro gloves,” Gerling said.
Gerling is hoping to assign some groups of adults to the exit ramps and noted that those areas are particularly rife with trash. Youth are also prominent during the clean-up, consisting of scout troops and other clubs that will be assigned to various areas.
“We had 200 people come out last year, and they collected 500 pounds of garbage. I would love to see more people come out,” Gerling said.
Gerling is encouraging those who can’t attend the event to still engage in a little clean-up, even if it’s just around their yard and neighborhood. Door prizes are available for those who post pictures of their cleanup efforts on Keep Burlington Beautiful's Facebook page with the hashtag #keepburlingtonbeautiful.
Participants will also have a chance to buy 2022 Earth Day Cleanup T-shirts for $10; shirts from previous years will be on sale for $5.
Gerling said this year’s door prizes are particularly robust, and one of the prizes is an all-expenses paid camping package.
The forecast calls for a temperature of 76 degrees Saturday, ensuring ideal conditions for a garbage clean-up – despite the 40 percent chance for rain.
“We’re excited for a great day,” Gerling said.