Green Up Vermont, State Partner for Flood Cleanup

By Stephen Cheslik
EAGLE TIMES MANAGING EDITOR
Orange is the new green — at least it will be across Vermont on Aug. 26.

Gov. Phil Scott announced that Green Up Vermont’s annual cleanup will make a special August appearance this year in the aftermath of July’s floods.

During the Green Up Vermont Recovery Clean Up Day, “people from all across Vermont — all 251 cities and towns — go into public spaces, mainly roadsides, to pick up litter,” said Green Up Vermont Executive Director Kate Alberghini. “We basically clean the entire state of Vermont.”

During this month’s cleanup, Green Up Vermont, in partnership with the state, will distribute 10,000 orange trash bags for volunteers to fill with flood debris and litter. The organization, with help from donations and sponsors, will pay for the bags to be collected and disposed of.

“Last year, we had nearly 400 tons of litter cleaned up and 23,500 volunteers for the one event,” Alberghini said.

With less time to plan and organize, the group expects a smaller event.

“For this one, because it is an emergency, we will do orange bags and we will be distributing them to all the places that want to have a cleanup,” Alberghini said.

“If anyone wants to do a cleanup, we will try to get them bags. And, if there is not a dumpster nearby, some people will just take care of disposal on their own,” she said. “We will try to get enough dumpsters for people to have free disposal.”

While 10,000 bags sounds like a lot, it is far fewer than the 65,000 iconic green bags the group distributes during its annual cleanup, Alberghini said, noting that even obtaining 10,000 bags at the last minute was not an easy task.

With the limited number of orange bags, Alberghini said the cleanup won’t turn away trash bagged in ordinary household trash bags. But they won’t take construction debris.

“The cleanup is a little bit different. It’s not for household or construction debris,” Alberghini said. The event is strictly a “public space cleanup,” including debris that got swept down a river.

“Homeowners and businesses that have been devastated need to go the FEMA route first,” she said.

According to the Governor’s Office, a program to safely deconstruct and remove condemned mobile homes at no cost to flood victims is being finalized.

Visit greenupvermont.org to list a cleanup event, volunteer at a cleanup, or read up on safety tips. Green Up Vermont also has iPhone and Android apps.