By Student Writer, Brody Boswirth

Annually, the average American litters about 152 pieces of litter. This number seems insignificant; however, it is far from that, because every year, those 152 pieces per person equate to fifty billion pieces of litter annually.

Many people believe that it’s “just one piece of trash”, but fail to recognize that if everyone thought that way, there would be 360 million pieces of trash daily.

However, there are groups of people who work tirelessly to reverse environmental damage, such as Lisa Uglialoro, who helps run Ashland’s annual event, GreenUp Ashland. 

GreenUp Ashland is a “committee of residents who help organize an annual clean-up of trash” in our town, says Uglialoro.

Their goal is to keep our small town beautiful and free from littered trash in its public areas, such as Stone Park, where the annual event begins.

On the first Saturday of every May, Lisa and her fellow board members, Brett Jackson, Janet Hart, Jeanne Walker, and Karyn Dann host and organize the dozens of volunteers who take time out of their day and head down to the park.

Although running this event is tough. Like with every event, there are always setbacks to success.

Lisa says that “marketing, getting equipment, and collaborating with the DPW to gather what people have picked up” are three of the major challenges she faces.

But the hardest challenge, she says, is trying to “get materials to help encourage people to clean”. 

Despite the setbacks, Uglialoro had one word to describe what it is like to run the event: “Rewarding”.

GreenUp Ashland is open to anyone, and everyone is welcome to join both the one-day event and their Adopt-A-Street program from May to October.

Uglialoro says the  Adopt-A-Street program is “for people who want to keep cleaning” even after the event is over.

For high school students, the Adopt-A-Street program is a great opportunity to gain community service hours, and on their website, www.greenupashland.org, you can find the community service form you can fill out.

If you would like to adopt a street, you can go to their website, mentioned before, and fill out their form.

Volunteering to clean up the town is not the only thing people can do to help. 

People can also volunteer to help advertise, take pictures, or even join the planning committee.

If you would like to join the event, GreenUp Ashland will be held on May 2 this year, beginning at 9 a.m. and lasting until 12 p.m.

While the total amount of garbage produced is still significant, thanks to people like Lisa who strive to make changes in society, visible, intentional littering has declined by over 60% in the last forty years.

This event makes a big difference in our town, and it needs as many people as possible to make it work. So if you have a few hours, take the time and stop by Stone Park on Saturday to help keep our town clean.