Illegal dumping and littering both degrade communities and our quality of life. Illegal dumping creates significant risks to public health and the environmental quality. Litter creates a sense of neglect, reducing property values and inviting property vandalism. Residents and businesses have the power to prevent and eliminate BOTH illegal dumping and litter.

Allegheny CleanWays is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed in 2000 to "engage and empower people to eliminate illegal dumping and littering in Allegheny County."

It is that time again

Mon, 08/30/2010 - 13:42 — bobm

It is hard to believe it is September already. It was a long hot summer and the Tireless project was busy with many a cleanup on our three rivers. Visit our Facebook page for photos of the most recent cleanup at Duck Hollow (again).

As the weather cools and vegetation starts dying off, Allegheny CleanWays is preparing for our busiest time of the year. It is Dumpsite cleanup season. We are in the process of scheduling cleanups throughout the fall. If your group, neighborhood, church, Scouts, or just a bunch of friends know of  a dump in Allegheny County that you would like to clean up and need some guidance with, contact us. We can help. Allegheny CleanWays can provide supplies, training and manpower.

Again this year Allegheny CleanWays will be assisting with Pittsburgh's fall weekend Redd Up on Oct. 15-16-17. The University of Pittsburgh's "Pitt Make a Difference Day" will be providing 3000 student volunteers to 60 Pittsburgh neighborhoods. Visit the Clean Pittsburgh Commission's website for more information.

12 Million Pounds Of Trash

Mon, 07/19/2010 - 11:39 — bobm
12 Million Pounds Of Trash Collected By 186,000 Volunteers During Great PA Cleanup

PA Cleanways - Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful reported a record 186,487 volunteers in the Great American Cleanup of Pennsylvania in April and May collected over 12 million pounds of trash in cleanup events.

            This annual event is in partnership with support from the departments of Environmental Protection and Transportation and partnering agencies and local businesses including American Chemistry Council, American Iron and Steel Institute, Keystone Sanitary Landfill, PA Beverage Association, PA Waste Industries Association, Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association, and Waste Management.
            Volunteers collected a record 12,070,740 pounds of trash. All 67 counties in Pennsylvania were represented in the Great American Cleanup of PA. There were 4,822 events with 186,487 volunteers. Volunteers collected 603,537 bags of trash. They cleaned 19,373 miles of roads, railroad tracks, trails, waterways, and shorelines, and 6,027 acres of park and or wetlands. 
            These statistics reflect results reported to PA CleanWays - Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful and PennDOT’s Adopt-A-Highway Program.  
            Volunteers planted 21,605 trees, bulbs, and plants in an effort to keep Pennsylvania beautiful.
            In 2009 more than 171,940 volunteers statewide joined in the cleanup and gathered more than 6.8 million pounds of trash and other debris from 16,498 miles of roadways, trails, waterways and shorelines.  Volunteers also planted 6,264 trees, bulbs, and plants in an effort to keep Pennsylvania beautiful.
             Since the inception of this event in 2004, over 54 million pounds of litter and waste have been removed from Pennsylvania’s landscape, and tens of thousands of trees, bulbs, and flowers have been planted.
     The Great American Cleanup of PA is sponsored by Keep America Beautiful.  The 2010 national sponsors were The Dow Chemical Company, Glad Trash Bags, Nestlé Pure Life Purified Water, o.b. tampons, Pepsi-Cola Company, ScottsMiracle-Gro Company, Solo Cup Company, Troy-Bilt, Waste Management, and Wrigley’s.
            A copy of the report is available online.  For more information, visit DEP's Litter Program webpage or contact Michael Texter at 717-783-6006.

Household Hazardous Waste

Sun, 05/16/2010 - 08:58 — bobm

Has spring cleaning left you with cans of old paint, solvents, cleaners, antifreeze, paint thinners, chemical strippers, insecticides, kerosene, lighter fluid, lye, mothballs, pool chemicals or other household hazardous waste products?  Even a can or two of mystery stuff?

Dispose of these dangerous items properly at a Southwestern Pennsylvania Household Hazardous Waste Task Force collection event. The Southwestern Pennsylvania Household Hazardous Waste Task Force’s mission is to facilitate the proper collection and disposal of household hazardous waste and minimize its generation through education in Southwestern Pennsylvania.  The SW PA HHW Task Force is comprised of members from profit, non-profit (including Allegheny CleanWays), academia, government and environmental organizations across Southwestern PA. The Task Force conducts several hazardous household waste collection events throughout the year. A small fee is charged. Our next collection will be Saturday, July 31, 2010 at the Cranberry Mall, Route 322, Venango County.

The next Allegheny County event will be Saturday, September 18, 2010 at Monroeville Mall.
 

Josephine St., South Side Slopes Clean-Up Pix

Wed, 04/28/2010 - 14:34 — bobm

Finally, the Josephine St. clean-up photos are up on Facebook. Sorry for the delay. This was a great day on the South Side Slopes taking 40 tires, 40 bags of trash and about 2 tons of scrap including 1 motorcycle off of the hillside near Arlington Heights.

A big thanks to our supporters Anheuser-Busch through Frank B. Fuhrer Wholesale Company, Keep American Beautiful through our state organzation Pennsylvania Cleanways, and PRC for the "Taste of the South Side". Thanks to the students from Duquesne (and Sammi from Pitt) and all of the volunteers for making it a great day.
 

Diaz Way, Hill District

Tue, 03/16/2010 - 13:39 — bobm

On Saturday, March 13, 50 members of the Boys and Girls Club members visiting Pittsburgh for a conference joined local residents and helped clean up Diaz Way, Colwell Ave., Lombard Street, and Dinwiddie Street in the Hill District. The students and residents removed close to 300 tires and 3/4 tons of litter and other debris. 
Illegal Dump

 

Going... Going... Gone!

Visit our Facebook page for more cleanup photos.

This accumulation of tires was not the result of local citizenry, but a criminal act by a tire dealer or hauler.  Most of these tires were dumped over a wall on Diaz Way by someone trying to avoid the disposal fee. The fine for dumping in the city is $10,000 which would far exceed that fee. 

Illegal Dumpsite Survey

Mon, 02/16/2009 - 19:47 — admin

PA CleanWays has released reports for the City of Pittsburgh, along with 13 counties, from their Illegal Dumpsite Survey Program.  279 dumpsites with a total estimated tonnage of 676 tons were located within the city.  Completed surveys are available for downloading on the PA CleanWays website at www.pacleanways.org.

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