6 days Ago By Daily Republic Staff
FAIRFIELD — Nearly two tons of trash and recyclables were collected by 212 volunteers last week on Earth Day. The volunteers worked 11 sites in Solano County, hauling in 3,603 pounds of trash and another 135 pounds of recyclables, the Solano County Resource Conservation District reported. It marked the 11th year of the countywide event and brings the total amount of trash and recyclables collected in that time to 63,381 pounds.
"Downtown Vacaville's Earth Day cleanup was made powerful by the collective effort of groups from the Academy of the 21st Century Learning, Target, Amazon, and many others,” Marianne Butler, Solano RCD Education director, said in a statement. She said she witnessed a young man, who was not initially part of the cleanup crew, put down his coffee, register and joined them. “That's the true spirit of Earth Day,” Butler said.
“Let's make more of these moments happen, together.” Common finds during the cleanup included discarded recyclable glass and aluminum beverage containers, food wrappers, cigarette butts and single-use plastics. The Earth Day Cleanup is one of three annual countywide cleanup efforts coordinated by Solano County agencies and cities in partnership with Solano Resource Conservation District.
The next opportunity is for World Environment Day on June 7 at Lake Solano. "The family-friendly event not only focuses on cleaning up the shoreline of a major water source for our county, Lake Berryessa, but also includes fun activities for volunteers such as planting grass plugs and forbs and making seed packets to attract pollinators to their gardens. Lunch and cold drinks will be available to all registered volunteers, who will also receive a commemorative T-shirt.
In addition, there will be guided kayak tours of Lake Solano and the opportunity to meet Bilgee the Bilge Pad, the protector of Lake Berryessa, who will encourage volunteers and pose for pictures," Solano RCD stated. Learn more about these cleanups at cleanupsolano.org .
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