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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Nov. 8, 1999
99-227
Contact: Joye Redfield-Wilder, public information manager, (509) 575-2610
YAKIMA - Ecology Youth Corps litter crews operating in Benton County cleaned 55 miles of roadway, accumulating 1,523 bags of litter and 136 bags of recyclables over an eight-week period this summer.
The nine youths, ages 14-17, worked on two crews based in the Tri-Cities.
"These kids are to be commended for cleaning our highways and sticking with a job that's important, but sometimes tedious," said Glenn Duncan, with the Washington Department of Ecology's solid-waste program.
In addition to bagging trash commonly thrown from vehicles, the crews also come across some more interesting items, such as car parts, hood ornaments, drug paraphernalia, diapers and dead animals.
"Crews are trained to play it safe when it comes to certain items," Duncan
said. "Ideally, we would not need litter crews if people were responsible
citizens and properly disposed of their trash."
Benton County crews supervised by Margaret Wade of Kennewick included Zac
Taylor, Adrian Elmo, Christa Freepons, Ashley Smith and Doug Moon, all of
Kennewick; and Matthew Gruel, Dylan Collins, Anthony Sanchez and Scott
Lane-Whiting, all of Richland.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
