Litter Cleanup Gatherings Around East Hampton This Saturday for National CleanUp Day

This coming Saturday, September 16, is National CleanUp Day around the country, and the East Hampton Litter Action Committee will be organizing several cleanup efforts throughout the town.

“In addition to the 11 events scheduled that day, we would like to encourage any Adopt-a-Road sponsors to get out and clean up their roads and any individuals to get out and pick up litter on their road, on their beach, in their neighborhood,” said Christine Ganitsch, a co-chair of the committee.

There will be 11 cleanup gatherings scattered around the town and throughout the day on Saturday. Those wishing to participate in cleanup marches can gather at the East Hampton Senior Center parking lot, the Lazy Point boat ramp and the Gurneys Montauk Resort Beach Club at 9 a.m.; at the CCOM offices in Montauk and the Gerard Drive road ending at 10 a.m.; at the Barnes Landing parking lot at 11 a.m.; at the Montauk Highway rest stop in Wainscott at noon and at the Montauk LIRR station at 3 p.m.

Beyond the CleanUp Day events, the Litter Action Committee has sponsored a number of initiatives like Group Against Garbage, or GAG, and the No Fling Spring campaign, that attempt to both clean up litter and make littering a more reviled behavior by those using local roads.

“When you walk the roads and you look closely, you see a lot more litter than when you are just driving by,” Ganitsch said. “It’s truly amazing what people will just throw out their windows. We are trying to build awareness of the problem and get people involved so that throwing stuff out your car window becomes taboo.

“It’s very challenging to change behavior, but we are trying to move that big ball up the hill.”