Dozens Show Up To Clean Waltham On Spring Clean Up Day

WALTHAM, MA — Dozens of people came out Saturday to tackle the city's litter this year. They wore gloves and removed coffee cups from the riverbanks of the Charles, captured plastic bags along the railroad and placed wrappers in trash bags, where they belonged.

It was all part of a spring clean up April 24, that the Waltham Land Trust and the City's Public Works Department hosted in honor of Earth Day.

"We had several cleanups on Thursday as well as Saturday. They all went really well," said Sonja Wadman of the Land Trust. "People were so excited to be outside helping the environment."

More than a dozen people from the Beaver Brook Watershed Neighborhood Association showed up Saturday to clean up trash. By the end of the morning the group collected a dozen bags of trash, and created a path on an access point owned by the city to help pedestrians access the Grove Street green space. The space is a piece of land about 2 acres large that the city owns and maintains.

"Thanks for Joey LaCava and Clarence Richardson for their help and special thanks to Waltham Lumber for supplying masks, bags and gloves for the volunteers," said Peggi Ibba who is a member of that association. "We are truly a hidden neighborhood and we are a community committed to improving our little neck of the woods!"

Assistant Director of Consolidated Public Works Stew LaCrosse said there were about 80 participants throughout the city on Saturday alone, in addition to crews from the land trust on Thursday and Saturday and they had approximately 180 in those combined groups as part of the larger Charles River cleanup.

"It was a perfect day and I want to thank all who came out and gave their time to serve Waltham," LaCrosse said.

Jenna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how.