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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Nov. 8, 1999
99-228
Contact: Joye Redfield-Wilder, public information manager, (509) 575-2610
YAKIMA - Ecology Youth Corps litter crews operating in Chelan and Douglas counties cleaned 111.5 miles of roadway, accumulating 671 bags of litter and 478 bags of recyclables over an eight-week period this summer.
The 11 youths, ages 14-17, worked on two crews based in the Wenatchee area.
"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. "One Wenatchee crew, however, started a collection of Beanie Babies they found while picking up litter."
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."
Crew members supervised by Bill Myers of Wenatchee included Ryan Burnett, Annabell Joya, Juan Miranda, Matt Robinson and Kamronn Seigfreid, all of Cashmere; Diane Cornejo, Tyler Dew and Min Thai, all of Wenatchee; Cody Hassain of Peshastin; and Derek Mendoza and Ken Taylor, of East Wenatchee.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
