Keep Cleveland and Bradley County has had a very successful beginning to 2024.
Some of you attended our Great American Luncheon at the Museum and Cultural Center at 5ive Points, and I hope you enjoyed yourselves. Aubrey Preston, the creator of Trashercise, was our guest speaker, and I guess, our guest entertainer, as he brought his guitar with him and sang a few songs for the audience,
Trashercise is the combination of exercise movements with picking up trash, and the Cleveland Family YMCA was gracious enough to allow us to do our pre-litter removal with a few exercises. Then, about 20 volunteers hit the road … or the road rights-of-way. A group of young volunteers from the Cleveland First Hispanic Seventh-day Church on Blue Springs Road helped on the following day.
All in all, these groups collected 2,520 in litter.
The Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day was Saturday, March 16. About 80 brought items such as home chemicals, paint strippers, adhesives, cleaners, lawn and garden chemicals, and herbicides to be destroyed.
The event did not allow paint and electronic to be disposed. Nor was medical waste, explosives, ammunition and radioactive materials.
We were there for most of the event, and were joined by our friends at both city and county stormwater divisions. We will be joining them again at the Hot Slaw Festival, where we will have a booth set up to pass out information. I also plan to have a short questionnaire for people to sign … to tell me where the most trashed up locations are in the city and county. I am also asking them to volunteer once we get to that site, and be monitors for that area … sort of a Neighborhood Watch-like program.
And we are looking at the Adopt-a-Spot/Road/Highway program that is administered by the Tennessee Department of Transportation. The TDOT regulations call for adopting a 2-mile stretch of highway, and cleaning the rights-of-way every three months (or 4 times a year).
Will keep you posted on that.
Kevin Treadway of UT Extension office had over 100 register for Bradley Walks, and he said if at least 100 sign up, then he will walk the entire length of Bradley County, from Red Clay State Historical Park, to the Hiwassee River in Charleston. He has also said he would help KCBCB by carrying a grabber and bag with him, and pick up trash along the roadways during his trek. He welcomes others to walk with him during the event, and also pick up trash along the roads they travel.
