“Keeping Belfast Maine Beautiful” holds 4th annual roadside cleanup Saturday

BELFAST, Maine (WABI) - Volunteers of all ages were busy cleaning up all 59 miles of Belfast roads today.

The 4th annual Belfast roadside clean-up, created by the Keeping Belfast Maine Beautiful organization, took place all day long.

Organizers handed out bright colored T-shirts to almost 30 teams of volunteers to wear.

Volunteers were picking up all kinds of trash and recyclables, including cigarette butts, which they put into special bags to be recycled.

Organizers say in the last 3 years, more than 12 tons of trash has been removed.

”You can tell a difference when you drive around Belfast after we get done with this, it’s clean,” says John Gibbs, and Organizer from KBMB. “I get calls from people saying, ‘I cleaned 141’ and they’re out there picking up trash again because someone else threw it out and it makes them mad. So they keep doing it. And I still see people year-round wearing these shirts, and we have them, every year we do a different color, picking up trash on the side of the road. It’s a nice feeling.”

Many area groups sponsored the event, and local schools also took part in this event on Thursday and Friday.

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