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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Nov. 8, 1999
99-231
Contact: Joye Redfield-Wilder, public information manager, (509) 575-2610
YAKIMA - Ecology Youth Corps litter crews operating in Kittitas County cleaned 88 miles of roadway, accumulating 1,074 bags of litter and 78 bags of recyclables over an eight-week period this summer.
The 11 youths, ages 14-17, worked on two crews based in Cle Elum.
"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. "Cle Elum crew members often had to battle high winds. They also scoured chain-up areas near Lake Keechelus that were heavily littered with trucker bottles and other human waste."
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."
Kittitas crews supervised by Darcy Griffin of Cle Elum included Breanne Haberman, Amanda Jundt, Sara Nethery, Raina Willette, Rujun Zheng, Amber Allen, Blake Brown and Blake Edwards, all of Ellensburg; Rodney Minton and Joey Johnson of Cle Elum; and John Powell of South Cle Elum.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
