More than 100 people banded together to help pick up litter within Riverhead Town during Saturday’s litter clean-up event.
The event, hosted by the town’s Anti-Litter Advisory Committee, was held in honor of Earth Day. Participants cleaned more than 35 locations around the town, including town parks, beaches, streets and wooded areas, according to Deborah Wetzel, the chair of the committee.
Groups who participated include the Riverhead High School AP Spanish class, the Riverhead High School Key Club, local girl scout troop, the Jamesport and Calverton Civic Associations, employees at Tanger Outlets, the Blue Waves baseball team and the Riverhead Middle School student government, Wetzel said. Supervisor Yvette Aguiar, Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio and former Councilwoman Catherine Kent were also in attendance.
Wetzel volunteers told her after the cleanup that they’ve “never seen the town so clean before.” “We’re aware we’re making a difference,” she said.
Wetzel said the next massive litter pickup event sponsored by the committee will likely be in the fall. The committee is also discussing a program to supply volunteers with equipment to pick up litter outside of events, Wetzel said.
“It just makes me feel good that we have people in our town that are concerned about this problem and willing to donate their time and energy to it,” Wetzel said. “And the fact that we always get the same groups coming back, I just think that that’s great, it really shows that people are concerned about this and hopefully that will rub off on other people. Maybe we will reach a point where we don’t have litter in this town.”
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