GreenUp Ashland Doing More to Make the Town Green

The GreenUp Ashland group, which started about 14 years ago as Ashland Earth Day, is known for inspiring residents of all ages to volunteer for its annual clean-up-the-town event the first Saturday in May. Now, the group is doing even more to make the town “green.”
“We are expanding our efforts into year-round cleanup and recycling to help our environment,” Janet Gamache, a GreenUp member, said. “The idea of expanding started this past year with my idea of purchasing public recycling receptacles; Adam’s [Elbirt] idea of the Adopt-a-Street program; and Karyn’s [Dann] idea of reaching out to sports teams to reduce their use of disposable plastic water bottles.”
Reducing Landfill
Waste by Recycling
“Through funding we obtained from the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) grant and WAITT-We’re All in this Together, we were able to purchase a combination trash/recycle bin that we placed at the Community Center athletic fields,” Gamache said. “We hope that kids and parents from weekend soccer games and other sports will recycle their plastic water bottles on site.”
“To my knowledge, this is the first public recycling container in Ashland,” Gamache said. “David Miller and his DPW crew have agreed to empty it regularly. This is a one-year trial. Miller has said that a past attempt didn’t work because people stuff garbage into the recycling side, and it’s a lot of work to sort it. We are hoping that people respect our efforts to reduce landfill waste and use the receptacle the way it is intended.”
Keeping Clean by
Adopting a Street
Another committee member, Adam Elbirt, is heading an adopt-a-street program. Over the summer, Elbirt appeared at the Ashland Farmers Market community tent several times to educate residents and get individuals to sign up.
“The idea behind adopt-a-street started during walks around town, seeing a lot of trash on the streets and realizing that one day each year wasn’t enough to keep Ashland clean,” Elbirt explained. “The plan is that from May through October we ask Ashland residents to adopt a street or streets of their choosing and keep them clean by picking up trash. They can pick up trash any day they want. We provide the super-thick yellow trash bags to everyone who signs up. Waste Management then picks up the bags as part of normal trash pickup, so there is no cost to volunteers and they don’t have to do anything special to dispose of the trash they pick up.”
“About 25 streets or street sections adopted, but there are still many streets that need attention,” Elbirt said. “Whenever a street is adopted, GreenUp updates the map. More than one person can adopt a street.”
A street map of Ashland showing the streets that have been adopted can be found at http://greenupashland.org/images/StreetsOnly_forGreenup_updated_4_.pdf.
To volunteer, access the volunteer/participant waiver form at http://greenupashland.org/adoptastreetprogram.html. Participants can fill out the form, electronically sign it, and then email it to adoptastreet@greenupashland.org with the name of the street they want to adopt.
Reusing Water Bottles
This fall, another GreenUp member, Karyn Dunn, is initiating a reusable water bottle campaign. Dunn is contacting soccer players through the sports coaches and parents to encourage them to reduce waste and trash by using reusable water bottles instead of disposable plastic bottles. She hopes to work with all sports. At the end of the season in November, she wants to poll parents to follow up on the effort.
Join the Team
GreenUp members are Karyn Dann, Adam Elbirt, Janet Gamache, Mark Oram, David Rubenstein and Jeanne Walker. The committee recently welcomed a new member, high school student Ira Katlochenko.
For more information or to volunteer, contact GreenUp Ashland at info@greenupashland.org or visit the website, www.greenupashland.org.