Annual Event Removes Litter from Durham’s Streets, Streams, Lakes, and Parks; Month-Long Clean Ups Encouraged

DURHAM, N.C. – Residents ready to help clean up Durham should dig out their work gloves and boots and mark their calendars now for the annual North Carolina “Big Sweep,” coming to Durham on Saturday, October 3, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

This year’s event, coordinated by the City of Durham’s Stormwater Services Division with the Public Works Department, the Durham Soil & Water Conservation District, along with Keep Durham Beautiful, Inc. (KDB), will focus on removing litter from Durham’s streams, watersheds, streets, and parks. 

According to Dorothea Pierce, executive director for KDB, last year 372 volunteers picked up 10,236 pounds of garbage – an amount Durham’s event organizers hope is surpassed with this year’s event.  “We really want our citizens to volunteer again and help us make a difference in Durham’s appearance, and ultimately, our environment.  Garbage and litter from our roadways is eventually funneled into our streams and lakes, which are our sources of drinking water. Anything that is thrown in our streets and parks ends up in our storm drains and streams, and eventually the ocean, where it harms aquatic life,” Pierce said.  “This event makes a huge dent in this recurring problem and Durham residents do make a real difference - evidenced by how our community removed more than 10,000 pounds of garbage during last year’s event alone.  If volunteers can’t participate on October 3, then we are encouraging folks to pick another day in October to participate.”

Durham residents, organizations or groups interested in volunteering for this year’s event should contact Jennifer Brooks, watershed conservationist with the Durham Soil & Water Conservation District, at (919) 560-0558 or at jbrooks@co.durham.nc.us.   Volunteers can also register on KDB’s Web site at www.keepdurhambeautiful.org/big-sweep/index.html.

North Carolina Big Sweep was founded as Beach Sweep in 1987.  In 1989, a public-private partnership officially became Big Sweep, the nation's first statewide waterway clean-up. Since its founding, North Carolina Big Sweep has had more than 200,000 volunteers and collected millions of pounds of trash from North Carolina watersheds.  To learn more about this organization or this year’s upcoming event, visit http://www.ncbigsweep.org.