The Town Council hears about plans to make #MiddletownRI Clean. Do your part and learn more at Clean online.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Matt Sheley at (401) 842-6543 or msheley@middletownri.com
MAKING MIDDLETOWN EVEN CLEANER
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. (FEBRUARY 20, 2024) – The Town of Middletown is redoubling its efforts to keep the community beautiful.
At a meeting Tuesday night in Town Hall, the Town Council approved a multiphase initiative called Middletown Clean to reassert itself with litter and other related quality of life issues.
According to the proposal rolled out by Town Administrator Shawn J. Brown, the low cost, high impact plan would touch virtually every town and school department to help pitch into the effort.
This includes everything from encouraging groups across the community to take Governor Dan McKee’s “Keep Rhody Litter Free” pledge to sponsoring community cleanups and adopt a spot programs to encouraging more anti-litter education in local schools.
“Litter is one of those things that impacts everyone,” Brown said. “I know it’s something we already work hard on, but with Middletown Clean, we’re hoping to have even more of a positive impact across the community.”
According to study after study, litter is one quality of life issue that impacts everyone negatively.
A sweeping 2020 study by Keep America Beautiful found that about 90 percent of United States residents surveyed agreed that litter was a problem in their state. The report also said there was about 50 billion pieces of litter on the ground and in the water across the country.
Aware of those concerns, town officials said Middletown does the best it can with the available resources to keep the community looking its best. The quickest, easiest way to files litter cleanup requests with the town is via Middletown Helps at https://mdl.town/Helps, the online community portal for non-emergency items.
However, due to budget limitations and the loss of community partner Clean Ocean Access, there was more of a void than before to fill.
Enter Middletown Clean. Through the upcoming community outreach program and webpage https://mdl.town/Clean online, the goal was to show that litter has a wider negative impact than most might realize.
The campaign will stress that litter is not just a quality of life issue in Middletown, or elsewhere. Despite what some might think, it can have a real detrimental impact on the local water supply, environment, animal wildlife and even property values.
Through the effort, Brown and others said the aim was to stress that the town took litter seriously and wanted everyone regardless of age or background to help.
In coming weeks, the Middletown Clean webpage will be updated with events, information and more to help build momentum behind the effort.
“When it comes to litter, it’s an item that seems there’s some real consensus behind,” Brown said. “Historically, we’ve left our efforts to public works and our community partners and I think it’s exciting what we’re doing here, expanding our work to include everyone in Middletown.”
Document Link: https://www.middletownri.com/DocumentCenter/View/11609/NYCU-Clean