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Introduction
Pacific Online cleans a portion of Highway 12 near
Sonoma, California and also a portion of the 101 freeway near Windsor,
California, approximately every 2 months. If you are interested in
participating in this community event please email
info@pon.net. All clean-up equipment is provided. It is approximately a two hour event
held on either a Saturday or a Sunday. For safety reasons, please no
children under 13 years of age.
The Tools
Each car that drives to the Pacific Online roadside
cleanup site must contain a copy of our "highway encroachment"
permit from Caltrans. Caltrans supplies all the cleanup equipment. We use
trash "picker-uppers" (similar to pooper scoopers) to actually
remove the trash from the ground and deposit it into the trash bag. Large
trash bags are supplied for the trash - and smaller color coded bags are
supplied for the recyclable items. We find it easiest to carry the large
trash bags by poking a hole near the top of one of these. The
"picker-uppers" are extremely effective - they even pick up the smallest of cigarette butts. Each person picking up trash
wears a helmet and an orange vest. Gloves are also provided, are not
necessary, but are recommended.
Safety
Safety is of the utmost concern. The Pacific Online cleanup coordinator
has watched a safety video put out by Caltrans. This coordinator watches
it at least once a year as a refresher. If you would like to
"borrow" a copy of this video before you join Pacific Online in
cleaning up the highway please email
info@pon.net.
When cleaning the highway stay as far away from the side of the road as
possible. If there is trash near the edge of the highway/freeway wait
until there is a clearing in traffic before quickly walking to and
removing the trash.
Always walk on the side of the road facing oncoming traffic and stay as
far off the shoulder as possible.
Comments
We have found the best "cleanup time" is
in late winter about 10 days after any rains. The ground is hard and easy
to walk on, any previous rains have disintegrated a lot of the paper and
tissue that is so commonly found along the roadsides, and the grass is not
too tall or dry.
Some of the most common items we recover from the roadways are pieces of
tissue, paper, beer cans, fast food excrements, car rim covers, Styrofoam
& paper cups. After the September 11th tragedy we started finding flag
magnets - and it is not uncommon to return with 1 or 2 of these after each
cleanup.
While "in the field" we often also find many unique, interesting
and sometimes strange items. We have been cleaning up the highways for 5
years now and have found everything from US paper money, to portrait
photos, to a pornography tape, to cassettes, to CD's, to love notes, and
much more. We have taken photos of a few of the items we have found along
the roadways.
Each trip out is unique and exciting - we never know what we will bring
home!
TEC
The Santa Rosa Junior College Engineering Club (TEC) has been extremely
helpful over the years. They often join us on our 'forays' into the field.
Please visit their website for more information: http://www.santarosa.edu/tec
Photos
The following are photographs taken in the field.
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| Shiny
Rim
Box with writing
pad
Paper plate |
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| Getting
that last
cigarette
Gloves
A "Ford" memento |
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| Typical
receipt
Top of trash picker
upper Bottom of
trash picker upper |
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| $1000 fine
for
littering
Typical trash
Hat, Battery & gas cap! |
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| Roadside
Helper
CD |
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| Milk
Bottle
Bag for the
trash
Typical scene |
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| Highway 12
PON
sign
Helper
Helpers |
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