CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The last West Virginia Adopt-a-Highway cleanup 0f 2024 will be held Saturday and will allow volunteers to help clean up litter in different areas.
The Adopt-a-Highway program began in the 80’s and is still going strong in the area. The Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan, also known as REAP, has two different ways volunteers can adopt.
“We offer two ways for adopting an area, your either able to adopt a spot or adopt-a-highway,” Chelsea Runion, the program’s state coordinator said. “An adopt-a-highway is over two miles and an adopt a spot is at least one quarter of a mile. And the adopt-a-spot is more targeted for small churches, school parking lots, things of that nature.”
Runion also said that not only does it give volunteers the chance to help make the places they choose look better, but it also shows how bad littering has gotten.
“Also increases public awareness and serves as an educational tool. Which also focuses on the consequences whenever litter is allowed into unchecked areas,” Runion said.
And these unchecked areas would be roads that are not state maintained, including dirt roads, back roads, and main routes.
Adopt a Highway program’s main objective is to save taxpayers money, which it has, according to Runion, they have saved over a thousand dollars each year.
And Runion said that most of the volunteers have been helping clean-up for a while and there able to teach the newer volunteers.
“A lot of our volunteers are elderly, so they are actually teaching younger adults what it means to take care of their area and everything,” Runion said.
The Division of Highways, provide everything that the volunteers would need for the cleanup. This includes the gloves, the bags to put the litter in and signs that they need to put up whenever the volunteers are cleaning up.
Runion said the hard work that the volunteers put in, doesn’t go unnoticed.
“First Saturday in August we offer a volunteer appreciation day,” Runion said. “We have it fully sponsored so it’s free for them to come, and they receive certificates, on how many bags they collect there are awards for certain groups.”
To learn about the Adopt-a-Highway program visit dep.wv.gov/environmental-advocate/reap/aah/Pages/default.aspx