Members of the Rotary Club of Sussex spent Saturday, May 6th, 2006, on the sides of the busy highway leading from Saint John to Sussex picking up litter as part of the Club’s latest community project.
This hands-on project to help the environment as well as build community spirit and pride. This project was part of the Province of New Brunswick’s Adopt-a-Highway Program.
The Adopt-a-Highway Program, developed in 1996, adds to the existing Annual Spring Roadside Cleanup. These programs are joint efforts of The Tree House (a Fredericton-based environmental organization that manages the Program), the Department of Transportation, and groups of volunteers who work together to keep our province roadsides clean and beautiful...
Through the Adopt-a-Highway Program, interested groups take on a three-year commitment to clean up roadsides along designated stretches of provincial highway. Official highway signs are posted to give public recognition to the adopting group for its contribution to the province’s cleanliness.
The Department of Transportation supplies participating groups with safety information, garbage bags, caps for roadside workers, and temporary warning signs.
Groups can adopt sections of highway that are no less than five kilometres long in rural areas and three kilometres in urban areas. Groups schedule two litter cleanups per year, in the spring and the fall.
Rotary Club project coordinator Frank Skaling was pleased with the keen response of Rotarians to this challenge. The Club hopes that other volunteer groups in the local area will also consider signing up for the Adopt-a-Highway Program.