Nov 13, 2012 3 min read

Volunteers from East Finley Township, the Washington County affiliate of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, the Buffalo Creek Watershed Association and any other interested citizens will be meeting at Hawthorn Road, East Finley Township, from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Thursday to load about 60 bags of trash from an illegal dump site, said Donna Riggle, one of the volunteers who is secretary of the watershed association.

The activity is being held in conjunction with America Recycles Day.

The road crew of East Finley Township will also be working at the site Thursday to move the bagged trash to a large Dumpster. The township will bear the cost of disposing of the trash.

At this illegal dump site, more than 65 drum-size trash bags have already been filled by volunteers including the Ron Sanders family; members of the Buffalo Creek Watershed Association, most notably Dave Dziaminski; and Laurie and Steve Popeck of the Washington County Affiliate of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, the organization that inspected the site and supplied the bags, gloves, safety vests, which are important to wear in rural areas during hunting season.

Much of the trash along Hawthorn Road has been glass, plastic, shoes, small appliances and carpeting. There are probably about 20 more bags worth of trash that the volunteers will be bagging.

“After the heavy tires and scrap metals have been removed, cleaning up an illegal dump site is just tedious work which gives a volunteer much time to think,” Riggle said.

“It’s frustrating to be cleaning up building materials such as concrete block, lumber, and window panes. Obviously someone was doing home improvement; most likely increasing their property’s appearance and value. So why did the homeowner think it was OK to degrade another person’s property by illegally dumping their debris there?

At a cleanup site in Donegal Township on Dog Run Road, Mike and Judy Campsey have found that removing trash over the past three years has decreased the amount of new trash dumped.

Ninety percent of the trash that was collected last month was beverage bottles that could have been recycled.

Riggle, who has also been active in the restoration of Dutch Fork Lake, noted that tree removal from the lake bed area near the dam is scheduled to begin Monday by Richardson Tree and Landscape Co. of New Wilmington, Lawrence County, under contract to the state Fish and Boat Commission.

Riggle is seeking volunteers for cleanups who can register with Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful at www.keeppabeautiful.org, email Laurie Popeck at washcokpb@gmail.com, or call the Riggle residence at 724-484-7537.