City: More than 1,000 Pitched in During Earth Day Season

Kristen Littlefield, Newport's Clean City Coordinator, said she is amazed yet again at the turnout and results of large-scale cleanup efforts across the city during this past Earth Day season.

Here's a recap, in her words:

Can you believe that almost 1,000 people made a difference during this Earth Day season? Newport never ceases to amaze me! 

I would like to recognize all of the 14 groups and 450+ volunteers that worked hard to help clean up Newport for Earth Day: Save The Bay & Pruitt Chiropractic cleaned up Easton’s Beach; Clean Ocean Access cleaned up Brenton Point State Park to the Castle Hill area and the Kings Park state fishing area and the Cliff Walk from Ochre Point to Memorial Boulevard; Off Broadway Neighborhood Association and the Newport Run & Chug Club cleaned up the Off Broadway neighborhood and downtown Newport areas; NewportRIRocks cleaned up Morton Park & the surrounding areas; Old Colony & Newport Railway cleaned up along the railway; The Point Association cleaned up and beautified parks in their neighborhood; The Friends of the Waterfront  cleaned up King Park; The East Bay Met School and the Boys and Girls Club of Newport County cleaned up Miantonomi Memorial Park and Sunset Hill; Aquidneck Land Trust & class from St. Michaels School cleaned the southern end of Miantonomi Park; Katherine Field and Associates cleaned up the Ocean Drive area; Friends of Ballard Park cleaned up Ballard Park. Check out our Earth Day recap video by searching for “City of Newport RI” in YouTube. 

This year’s Spring Recycling Day was held on Saturday, April 19 at Easton’s Beach. This was our 10th Recycling Day event, which proves that there is a need for this event after the amazing turnout and the highest amount of material collected to date. About 525 people came to recycle 14,163 lbs of electronics, 2,940 lbs of scrap metal, 2,900 lbs of bulky plastics, 100 lbs of Styrofoam, 9,200 lbs of shredded paper, 20 bikes (600 lbs) to The East Bay Met School & Bike Newport, 2,550 lbs of clothing & household items to Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ocean State, 1,785 lbs of books to Discover Books, 1020 lbs of cardboard & mixed recycling and 100 lbs of plastic bags. The recycling bin exchange bins were swapped in just one hour. We also sold 13 compost bins during the event. In total, we prevented 35,358 pounds of material from going into the landfill. The Spring & Fall Recycling Days have kept 260,000 pounds of material out of the landfill!

I would also like to thank the volunteers and sponsors of the Spring Recycling Day. First and foremost, my greeter volunteers, who always are so polite and poised: Beth Milham, Toni Ciany, Doug Sabetti, Ellen Nichols, Traci Galpen, Kara DiCamillo and Dana Elliot. Thank you to the East Bay Met School’s Green Team for directing traffic and collecting plastic bags. Waste Management continues to support the event, providing a staff member, John Carney, and a truck to crush and transport the rigid plastic items, as well two dumpsters to accept scrap metal and cardboard. The Preservation Society of Newport County and Rob Beebe sponsored Bike Newport during the event by providing a flatbed truck to transport the donated bikes. Thank you to Custom House Coffee of Middletown for their continued support, donating coffee to volunteers and event attendees and to Peter Martin, representative for District 75 as well as Louise Casavant, for serving the coffee.

If you or your organization would like to hold a litter cleanup, any time of year, please contact me ahead of time. The Clean City Program may be able to provide bags, gloves and pick up the litter you collect. The next Recycling Day event will be the Fall Recycling Day, being held on Saturday, September 27 at Easton’s Beach, which will be held in conjunction with the Eco-Depot hazardous waste day.   We hope that Newport area residents will attend and help us divert even more material from the landfill and take advantage of dispose of hazardous waste properly, free of charge. Please call me at 845-5613 or email me at klittlefield@cityofnewport.com for more information, to give feedback on the Spring Recycling Day, or if you want to hold a litter cleanup.

With pride,

Kristin Littlefield

Newport’s Clean City Coordinator