By Dawn Dolson 

This Saturday is the kick-off date for Beaufort County Clean Sweep.

Pamlico Albemarle Wildlife Conservationists will be using Washington High School, located on Slatestone Road, as a staging point for volunteers to assemble and be ready to collect the trash along several miles of roadways. The goal is to reclaim the natural beauty of the Beaufort County roadsides.

All one has to do is drive through the countryside and see our beautiful roadside slowly being swallowed by trash. We were prompted into action when we realized 2,000 cyclists will be riding hundreds of miles on our county roadways the weekend of April 20. We will not be able to clean hundreds of miles in such a short timeframe, but we are hoping this Saturday will be the beginning of a countywide endeavor to clean up the land.

“We realize the endeavor will be long term and will require a thorough plan. But if we don’t become proactive, the trash will only get worse,” said Herb May, PAWC president. “Our organization is looking forward to working with the county, DOT and fellow citizens in restoring our roadsides.”

Volunteers are asked meet this Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Washington High School. Routes will be assigned, orange vests, gloves and bags will be provided. Wear long sleeves, long pants and closed shoes. PAWC will provide the water, you provide the container — we don’t need to add more garbage then there already is.

To maintain any cleanup effort, we need to educate everyone from our children to our seniors. The roadside eyesore is the least of our issues when you realize the hazards that garbage has on our pets, wildlife and our waterways. And oh, yeah, our health.

But for now, we are going to clean up Beaufort County one plastic shopping bag at a time.

DOT orange bags are available by emailing PAWCNC@gmail.com or stopping by the Coffee Caboose located at 111 McNair St., Washington. Once the bags are full, they can be left on the roadsides and DOT will pick them up.

Dawn Dolson is the PAWC communications director and a Clean Sweep coordinator.