Cleaning up the P-W

July 30, 2006

By Amy Schenck

Frontiersman

WASILLA - Decked in bright orange, a couple dozen people from Mat-Su Services for Children and Adults spent Friday morning under the warm sun picking up trash along the Palmer-Wasilla

Highway.

It took the group an hour to clean up the 1-mile section of road adopted by MSSCA. By the end, they had gathered a pickup truck worth of trash.

MSSCA conducts a trash sweep three times per year - one in May right after breakup, one sometime in the middle of the summer, and one in September.

The trash pick-up in May, which takes two hours, usually yields the most trash, as well as the most bazaar items, said Trish Walter, supported living program director for MSSCA.

In addition to the typical bottles and cigarettes, they've found shingles blown off of people's homes, mattress springs and a camper shell.

On Friday, the MSSCA also hauled away a rotting board.

After the Friday cleanup the group returned to MSSCA's offices for a potluck.

Contact Amy Schenck at 352-2269 or amy.schenck@frontiersman.com