More volunteers boost local Great American Cleanup effort

Published on April 28, 2024

As America freshens up the environment during the ongoing Great American Cleanup, Green Team is setting an ambitious pace to keep Huntsville clean.

Just in the first three months of 2024, the Green Team numbers tell an impressive story:

• Number of cleanups: 127 (55 percent increase over the same time last year)
• Number of volunteers: 1,123 (33 percent increase)
• Volume of litter collected: 2,078 bags (149 percent increase)

“We’ve got more volunteers activated and we’re getting more things cleaned up,” said Nikole Sothers, Landscape Management Manager. “On the other side of it, we want to be reducing (litter). So our goal one day would be to have an increase in volunteers and have less litter that we’re picking up.”

Yes, for conservationists, it can be frustrating to see litter collection numbers going up instead of down. At the same time, there are explanations. Sothers pointed out that the city’s population is continuing to increase and construction across the city is always ongoing. Those two realities can lead to a third reality: More litter is being generated.

It’s a reality that Keep America Beautiful (KAB), a national nonprofit organization, is seeing across the country. KAB kicked off its annual Great American Cleanup on March 19 and it will continue until the first day of summer on June 20. Last year, the Cleanup collected a record 10 million pounds of litter and debris nationwide from streets and public spaces.

Green Team is among KAB’s partners and Sothers said they get calls in the spring from companies and organizations locally that want to make a difference. And often that’s spurred by Earth Day, which is celebrated each April.

“We get calls from companies that want to do something special for Earth Day and they do it together as a group,” Sothers said. “They want to be good stewards of the environment as a company and as a group. They see the importance for everyone.”

Even as Green Team has seen its number of volunteers increase this year, there are never too many. Whether it’s individuals, a group of individuals, a company or an organization, Green Team is always eager for more help. Fill out a volunteer form and Green Team will provide the supplies: gloves, bags, litter sticks and vests.

“Our volunteers are so important and Huntsville is such a great city in that people are willing to give their time and we are so grateful for that,” Sothers said.

And as amazing as the litter collection statistics may be, there is always more that needs to be done.

“When we get more people, we are targeting more areas that probably need to be targeted,” Sothers said. “We’re reaching some areas of impact.

“We definitely have some individuals that come out and we’re seeing a lot of groups, whether it’s schools or sororities or fraternities and different groups that are gathering together. It’s great because it’s something they can all do together. You can look at the before and the after and see  the big impact that you can make in a short amount of time.”