300 tons and counting

by Diana Nelson Jones/April 29

More results are in from Earth Day-weekend clean-ups around the region.

Boris Weinstein of Citizens Against Litter said 20 percent of the 250 groups in the city that he knows participated have reported in, and of that segment, 7,000 adults and 3,000 school kids turned out to collect 90 tons of bagged litter.

The total regional haul reported so far -- in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Washington and Westmoreland counties -- was done by 17,500 volunteers collecting between 250 and 300 tons of litter, he reports.

A sampling of survey reports shows:

--Monroeville topped all with 650 volunteers, collecting 12 tons of litter.

--Hill District, Uptown, South Side, with 600 volunteers - most from Duquesne University - collected six tons.

--New Brighton (Beaver County) reported 262 volunteers, collecting 3 tons.

--Manchester, on Pittsburgh's North Side, went from having no "redd up" last spring to a huge effort last week with 150 volunteers who removed 3.5 tons of litter and 130 tires.

--Others: Squirrel Hill, 179 volunteers and two tons; Collier, 100 volunteers, 4.5 tons and 300 tires; South Park, 64 volunteers, 1.5 tons; Natrona, 53 volunteers, 2.5 tons and 65 tires; Etna, 67 volunteers, ¾ ton of litter and 36 tires; Panther Hollow, Oakland brought out 192 volunteers to clean up and plant and bag one-half ton of litter.