PLATTSBURGH, NY. (WCAX) – To honor Earth Day, the Plattsburgh community celebrates Green Up Day.
This annual celebration kicked off at 9a.m. with a public space trash pick up.
The transition from winter to spring makes this a great opportunity to spot what needs to be picked up.
“It’s always a good time of year to do it because after the snow leaves there’s usually a lot of you know trash that gets uncovered,” Director of Community Development Courtney Meisenheimer said.
Tim King, a Plattsburgh resident said not only is it important to clean up your community for yourself, but for the people who visit the area.
“Beautifying and keeping our town of Plattsburgh looking good will help with our tourism, you know it’s a snowball effect,” Plattsburgh resident Tim King said.
Along with the organized clean up, tours of the wastewater treatment plant were offered.
Those who went learned how the city collects and cleans its wastewater.
“They take a wide variety of contaminants that are in the wastewater and take them out to make that water safe for going back into the water cycle to repeat its process,” Jonathan Ruff, Environmental Manager at the wastewater treatment plant said.
An operator at the wastewater plant said how the community can do a better job at helping our environment.
“Keeping our garbage not throwing garbage on the streets – being aware of the impact that you are having, your footprint that you are having on the environment,” Richard Montroy, 3A Operator at the wastewater treatment plant said.
Following the city wide cleanup, Green Up Day celebrations continued at Trinity Park with live music, activities, and free ice cream.