Calling all volunteers: KCCB plans fall cleanup on Highway 321
Published 8:04 am Tuesday, October 11, 2022
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Volunteers with Keep Carter County Beautiful will conduct a fall cleanup on Highway 321 this Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m.
“I hate that the first impression visitors get of our county is the trash on Highway 321,” said Don Hlavaty, who is helping coordinate the cleanup.
He described the roadway as one of the most traveled routes in the county. “Many work trucks and commercial vehicles travel this route, as well as vehicles headed to the landfill,” he said. “Unfortunately, the large volume of traffic comes with a large amount of trash.”
And keeping the litter picked up is an ongoing challenge for the volunteers.
Hlavaty related a recent conversation he had with a volunteer after sending an email with news of an upcoming cleanup. “She asked, ‘didn’t we just clean up that roadway three months ago?’” he said. “I told her we did, but people continue to toss trash on the roadway.”
In fact, Hlavaty said, she personally walks a two-mile stretch of one particular roadway each Sunday to pick up litter and debris. “I’ve picked up a 39-gallon bag of trash every week for the last four years,” he said. “That’s 400 bags of trash.”
Anyone who is interested in helping keep the area clean is invited to assist on Saturday. “We will meet at the Tweetsie Trail Parking lot at Lions Field on Highway 321 in Elizabethton,” he said. “If we can get 18 volunteers, we can clean the entire three-mile stretch of road.”
Volunteers should dress appropriately and bring water and work gloves. Keep Carter County Beautiful will provide safety vests, trash bags and trash grabbers. Volunteers can pre-register at www.kcbtn.org/events, although registration is not required.
