EAST LONGMEADOW — Sometimes, one person can make a difference. East Longmeadow resident Erin Chrusciel heard a call to action in 2021 and partnered with the town’s Recreation and Health departments to get residents involved in keeping East Longmeadow clean.

Chrusciel and some neighbors had organized a small neighborhood cleanup effort in 2017. In 2021, Chrusciel heard Town Manager Mary McNally comment that she did not know why more residents did not volunteer. Chrusciel said she was “embarrassed” for the town. East Longmeadow Recreation Department Director Donna Prather said that, while the Health Department had sponsored an Earth Day cleanup for several years with moderate success, Chrusciel approached the town with an idea to make the cleanup into a true community event.

“We’re trying to make it a part of our town’s identity,” Chrusciel said of the East Longmeadow Earth Day Cleanup.

This year’s Earth Day Cleanup theme is “Invest in Our Planet.” The 2023 East Longmeadow Earth Day Cleanup event will begin with a Registration Kick-Off Night on Wednesday, April 5 at the East Longmeadow Public Library. Between 4 and 6 p.m., volunteers can pick up trash and recycling bags for their team, visit with sponsors, watch a compost demonstration and view all the Earth Day art projects created by students. For those who cannot pick up bags on April 5, they will be distributed at the Council on Aging “horseshoe,” 325 North Main St., between 8:30 and 9 a.m.

Prather said the most important component of the kickoff is education. “We’d like to educate people, so they don’t dump their waste to begin with,” she said.

Then, on Earth Day, Saturday, April 8 from 9 to 11 a.m., volunteers will hit the streets, trails and woods of East Longmeadow to collect trash and other waste. There are an array of awards and prizes for volunteers designed to make the experience something people want to do each year.

In the past, prizes have been given for Best Team Name, with winners including “Recyclops” and “Alexa, Clean Up East Longmeadow!” There are also awards for Largest Cleanup Team, Best #ELEarthDay Social Media Post and Best Cleanup East Longmeadow Poster.

Chrusciel said “everyone’s favorite” award is for the “Most Strange Find” which has included a boat, wall to wall carpeting, televisions, shopping carts and a mattress found on the rail trail. She said the prizes keep the cleanup engaging. “It’s a fun thing to do,” she said. Likewise, Prather said the contest aspect “makes it fun and dresses up the fact that you’re picking up other people’s trash.” In 2022, there were more than 270 volunteers that collected 2 1/2 tons of trash and half a ton of recyclables.
“People will use their own trucks and go out into the woods. It’s amazing what people will volunteer for,” Chrusciel said. “I’m just happy the community has gotten involved,” Chrusciel said.

Volunteers are not the only ones to pitch in for the cause. Prather said businesses have helped with the cost of trash bags and disposal. “I couldn’t believe what it costs to get rid of old tires,” Prather remarked. The East of the River Chamber of Commerce has also been helping to sponsor the event. Chrusciel shared that, over the past two years, more than $4,275 has been donated by businesses that have sponsored the event and more than $5,750 worth of prizes for volunteers have been donated by hundreds of local businesses.

Cleaning up trash and keeping the environment clean is “something even very young children can understand,” Chrusciel said. In addition to the Earth Day Cleanup, Chrusciel said she has been working with schools to engage with youth around the problem of pollution and keeping the environment clean. She said she contacted teachers she knew, who took the idea of involving students and ran with it.

In 2022, some schools tackled the “Solve the Trash Problem,” which challenged students to envision solutions to address dumping and waste disposal. Birchland Park Middle School was the winner, Chrusciel said. Students were also encouraged to create Earth Day posters. This year, Chrusciel said, volunteers will receive a recyclable tote emblazoned with the artwork of a kindergartner’s drawing of the planet holding an Earth Day banner.

Chrusciel said she would like to encourage high school students to get involved. “This is their issue,” she said, adding they can be the generation to fix the problem for good.

Considering the reason there is so much waste to collect, Prather said, “Some people flat out don’t care. For some, they just don’t know where to get rid of waste.”

“Back in my day, we had, ‘Give a hoot, don’t pollute,’ and the [Native American] with a tear,” Prather said of environmental awareness campaigns that were popular in the 1980s and 1990s. She said such campaigns do not seem to be as common now. That said, she also noted that curbside recycling programs are ubiquitous now, making it easier to recycle than ever before.

“I don’t think [polluting] has gotten worse. I think there is just more [waste],” Prather said, and cited multiple layers of packaging on everyday items. No matter what the cause of waste in the environment, Prather said, “You can’t give up.”

East Longmeadow Earth-Friendly Facts from the East Longmeadow Health Department:

• Three out of five East Longmeadow Schools began composting in September 2022. A total of 11,217 pounds of food waste using a local vendor, Commonwealth Sustainability MA
• East Longmeadow has recycled 427 mattresses
• Textiles are no longer allowed in household waste and 33,615 pounds of clothing have been collected for reuse
• The East Longmeadow Health Department hosted three “Fix-It” clinic events where volunteers fixed residents’ small appliances
• East Longmeadow is in the process of becoming a Green Community

Visit eastlongmeadowma.gov/919/East-Longmeadow-Earth-Day for more information on Earth Day Cleanup and to view past Earth Days. To sponsor or donate a prize for the event, visit tinyurl.com/2p9et6yj. For more information about recycling, contact at 413-525-5400 ext. 1106 or elizabeth.bone@eastlongmeadowma.gov.