2022 Clean Sweep Awards

Many thanks to everyone involved with Shelton Clean Sweep. Once again, people rolled up their sleeves and worked to beautify their neighborhoods, parks, and school by cleaning up litter. 

Every year the Anti-Litter Committee selects Clean Sweep Volunteer of the Year Awards in three categories: individual, business, and group. It's a tough decision every year. The Committee looks through the clean-ups that were recorded via the online reporting form to see how much various people picked up. Many clean-up projects are not recorded online or reported to us, and therefore could not be considered for an award (sorry!).  Members of the Litter Committee do not qualify, nor do Adopt-a-Street participants (because this is for Clean Sweep).  So here we go: 

Business Category:
Richemont North America

The Business Category was taken by Richemont North America for removing litter from Shelton High School. Nice job!

Individual Category: 
Ellen Cramp

Ellen Cramp once again earned the award in the Individual Category. Ellen picks up litter year-round and also works on our hiking trails. For Clean Sweep 2022, she picked up litter from Coram Road and Oak Valley Trail. Give Ellen a round of applause. 

Group Category:
Olde Ripton Garden Club

The Olde Ripton Garden Club was given the Award in the Group Category. The club picked up litter from the Huntington Green and Ripton Road, continuing their efforts to beautify Shelton. Good work!

Community Engagement Award:
Shelton Clean Up Project

A fourth award was handed out for 2022: A Community Engagement Award to Shelton Clean Up Project. This group started as a pandemic Facebook Group of people who arranged sporadic meeting places to pick up litter throughout the year. The group has evolved and now posts a schedule of upcoming work parties open to the general public. High school students can have their community service forms signed by attended one of their events.  Standing ovation! 

Many thanks to our award winners and to everyone who picked up even just a little bit of litter for Clean Sweep. Many hands make light work. 

Shelton's "Top Ten" List

The Anti-Litter Committee has created a "Top Ten" list of locations in Shelton that have a chronic litter problems: 

1. Indian Well Road, including parking areas
2. Beard Sawmill Road under Route 8
3. Canal Street (north end)
4. Bridgeport Ave. between Commerce Drive and Constitution Blvd. 
5. Pootatuck Place (behind Hilton Garden Inn)
6. Todd Road
7. "Four Corners" (Booth Hill & Mohegan Roads)
8. All Route 8 entrances/exits
9. Mill Street
10. Nells Rock Road between Oak Valley Road and Bridgeport Ave. 

Leavenworth and River Road were saved for later because Committee members had not been able to narrow down which portions were most in need of attention. 

The Committee decided to focus on the top three over the summer. Indian Well Road is particularly problematic after hot summer weekends when the state parks is busy.  Beard Sawmill Road under Route 8 is a location the City was already focusing on. And the north end of Canal Street is scheduled for a cleanup this summer by the "Shelton Clean Up Project" group. 

Four of the Top Ten locations are on state properties (Indian Well Road, Beard-Sawmill under Route 8, Bridgeport Ave, and the Route 8 ramps), which will be more difficult to address.  The City of Shelton cannot implement its Adopt-a-Street Program on State of Connecticut property, and the State has limited staff for cleaning up highways. The State does have its own Adopt-a-Highway Program, but the Anti-Litter Committee reviewed the program over ten years ago and found it to be too onerous to recommend. Perhaps it has been updated. 

Gearing up for 2022

The 15th annual Shelton Clean Sweep will be held April 16-24, 2022 (the week of Earth Day).  As always, bags and gloves will be supplied. Each  year we offer a free iron-on patch to participants, which features a red fox for 2022. The patches are especially popular with Scouting groups. The DontTrashShelton.org website will be updated soon with more information, but you can register a cleanup now using this form. 

Shelton's Clean Sweep program was effectively sidelined for the last two years due to the pandemic, but things are gearing back up for 2022. Although we did run Clean Sweep both years, participation was very low. Connecticut was shut down in April of 2020, cancelling all the scheduled clean-ups, and in early 2021 many Scouting groups were still hesitant to commit to events. Bad weather cancelled the few that were scheduled. We're hoping that 2022 the year Shelton Clean Sweep gets back in gear.

New members needed! The Anti-Litter Committee has not met since early 2020 and during that time lost a few members. We bid farewell to long-time member Ron Pilkowicz, who moved away, and Sheri Dutkanicz, who has work scheduling conflicts. They will be missed. Monthly meetings are expected to resume after the Omicron surge abates, but the Committee is in need of new members. Active members now include Gil Pastore (Chair), David Edgeworth, Joe Welsh, and Teresa Gallagher. If you would like to join the Litter Committee, please send an email to conservation@cityofshelton.org.  Meetings are held the 4th Wednesday of the month at 7:00 pm in City Hall. 

Join a public cleanup: During the pandemic, a new Facebook Group formed called Shelton Clean Up Project. The group has organized a number of clean-up events open to the general public. The group is not affiliated with the City of Shelton, although we do support their efforts by supplying bags and gloves as needed and hauling away the accumulated trash. The same is true of Housatonic River Clean Up, an event held each spring in Milford, Stratford, Orange, and Shelton.