Article Options

Groups bond together to pick up litter

BY: ANDREA HAHN
THE SOUTHERN

Sunday, October 23, 2005 1:40 AM CDT

CARBONDALE - Volunteers from various communities and from Southern Illinois University Carbondale were out in force on Saturday doing the equivalent "picking up after" as part of Make a Difference Day and the Beautify Southern Illinois fall litter pick-up campaign.

Paul Badgett, an Alpha Tau Omega fraternity brother assigned to the Grand Avenue area near Papa John's pizza parlor in Carbondale, said the experience has cured him of ever wanting to litter. He and two other fraternity members said they picked up more little marinara or garlic sauce containers than they care to count in the immediate vicinity of the eatery.

He wasn't very optimistic about the status of littering in the Grand Avenue area closest to campus. He said as more business locates there, the worse the litter will be. But Badgett was philosophical, saying he was picking up litter on Saturday to make a difference within himself.

Sheena Harper, who helped coordinate the student part of the clean-up effort, is originally from Chicago. She said part of what brought her to SIUC was the small-town, yet collegiate, atmosphere.

"I liked the smaller community - it's different from Chicago," she said. "Carbondale is a cool town. There are so many little shops and restaurants. And there are a lot of garbage cans, too. There is no reason for people to litter. Use the garbage cans - don't just throw stuff on the ground."

Harper said the Make a Difference Day part of the campaign seemed to have attracted more volunteers than in previous years. She said there were quite a few student organizations sending representatives, but also a surprising number of individuals.

"They came ready to go," she said. "We had a lot of independent students who had heard about it. I was kind of shocked."

Jamiu Kolawole and Candice Hickman were among the independent students armed with orange trash bags. They were working the section of U.S. 51 from McAndrew Stadium to the intersection with Pleasant Hill Road.

"It's a beautiful day," Kolawole said. "I just wanted to come out today to give back to the community."

Hickman, a Chicagoland native, said she didn't realize how much trash there was on the side of the roads until she started picking it up.

"I didn't think we'd find this much," she said. "Now I'm wondering if we'll be finished on time."

Ray Lenzi, a Beautify Southern Illinois Campaign organizer, said the point of the mass effort on Saturday was to get every group that had adopted a section of highway from the Illinois Department of Transportation working on the same day.

"It's the first time we've had a group effort like this," he said. "It's very encouraging. It's easy to lose a little steam when you feel like your group is the only one. Now, people know that if they keep their section of road clean, they are doing their part and other groups are, too."

Lenzi said he estimated that, without counting the part of the Jackson County effort affiliated with campus, more than 1,500 bags of trash had been collected from the roadways just in the one county. He noted that other Southern Illinois counties were similarly conducting massive campaigns on Saturday.

"We still need twice as many volunteers, though," he said. "We still have a lot of un-adopted roadway."

For more information about joining the effort, call the Beautify Southern Illinois Coalition at (618) 536-4451.

andrea.hahn@thesouthern.com

618-529-5454 x15076