Students of Portsmouth High School held Earth Day Activities in Tracy Park on Saturday, April 18. Charissa Chapman is helping Preston Oberholt plant some seeds during one of the activities.
“It’s called ‘One Day One Bag’, and this is the second year we have done this, and we think it went pretty well last year,” said superintendent of the City Health Department, Peggy Burton.
“This does serve as a reminder to the community to be aware of their surroundings and help clean it up because a lot of times on Earth Day or special days like that, people want to help but they don’t know what to do. And so we felt like this was something that was easy for people to do that isn’t a lot for any one person, but collectively it can make a great outcome and be successful in cleaning up the environment.”
The Portsmouth City Health Department provides gloves for those who want to clean up an area. Burton said gloves may be picked up at the Health Department located at 605 Washington Street after 8 a.m. the day of the event.
Kelly Raies, founder of the Scioto County Clean Team said the coalition is asking area residents to take any bag, such as a bag from a store where they have purchased merchandise, go out into their yard or the area around their business and pick up trash and debris.
“We also encourage people, if they are picking up their trash that is recyclable, there’s numerous dumpsters throughout Portsmouth,” Raies said. “If they really want to get into the Earth Day spirit they can put the recyclable litter in a recyclable dumpster.”
Raies said the key to the success of One Day One Bag is public particpation.
“We just feel like if we can get lots of people involved in doing this, just really spending 10 or 15 minutes, it can really make a big difference,” Raies said.
“We’re not asking someone to give their whole day or give a week — really just go outside, take a very short amount of time, and if everyone just keeps their areas clean it will make a big difference.”
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