Earth Day Cleanup Targets Spring Street In West Haven

WEST HAVEN, CT — City officials and volunteers took part in West Haven’s Earth Day cleanup on Spring Street on Thursday.

Public Works Commissioner Tom J. McCarthy (pictured) holds a trash bag while Mayor Nancy R. Rossi disposes of a plastic bucket found in a marsh off Spring Street during the city’s Earth Day cleanup Thursday.

The grassroots cleanup, organized by the Department of Public Works and local developer The Smyrna Group, targeted the south side of Spring Street, which connects West Haven and New Haven along the marshes that lead to Long Island Sound.

Also pitching in for the effort were Rossi’s executive assistant, Louis P. Esposito Jr.; Councilman Robert Bruneau, D-9; Ernie Chiarelli, the Public Works Department’s project coordinator and sidewalk inspector; and Smyrna representatives.

Volunteers picked up rubbish in the marshland and placed it into trash bags provided by public works. The department also provided a front-end loader and dump truck to remove the bags.

Bruneau, who owns Bruneau’s Garage in West Haven, provided a tow truck to drag rubber tires and wooden railroad ties from the water.

Spring Street was closed to traffic throughout the cleanup.

According to McCarthy, a broad swath of debris — plastics, TVs and tires, as well as plastic foam products — has collected in the canals that feed the West River, which empties into the Sound.

The area is home to a wide array of wildlife, including a family of swans.