As the leaves begin to transform into the splendid colors of autumn, the Pocono Mountain Visitor’s Center is working diligently to deliver the beauty of Pennsylvania to its 28 million to 29 million annual guests.

The second “Picking up the Poconos” event was held all around Monroe County on Saturday as a way to clean up roadside litter and trash.

Chris Barrett, president and CEO of the Pocono Mountain Visitor Center, is proud of the work his team is doing to clean up the debris along the roads in Monroe County. Around 300 volunteers, including students from East Stroudsburg University and community partners, gathered at various locations to pick up trash.

Barrett said the worst littering spots are along Interstate 80 and 380 where motorists and truckers dump trash along the road or on the exit ramps. Cigarette butts, plastic bags and other trash gather along the median. In 2018, 750 bags of trash were collected in about 15 locations in just Monroe County. Barrett is grateful for the support of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in helping keep volunteers safe along these busy roads.

Started as an “awareness campaign,” Barrett launched TV, radio and web advertisements to promote the dangers of littering and other “concerns about our environment.”

Barrett says that “cigarette butts take one to two years to break down, plastic bags can take 5-50 years to break down, and glass bottles take a million years to break down.”

Improper disposal of garbage is not only unsightly but poses a risk to humans and animals. The most unusual item ever found was a wedding ring, although there were times when the state police were asked to come and handle some items.

While the Picking Up the Poconos event happens only once a year, other programs at the visitor center aim to clean the streets daily. The Pocono 3C program, a collaboration between Pocono Mountains United Way, RHD’s Street 2 Feet and The Waste Authority for Pocono Community Caring Company, collected 1,581 bags of trash in just a few short months with 44 participants and 252 shifts.

Raising awareness about the negative impacts of littering is the main goal of the annual event, but Barrett hopes that the message will resonate and littering will stop in all four Pocono counties, Carbon, Monroe, Pike and Wayne.

To learn more about anti-littering efforts and the work of PMVC, please visit https://www.poconomountains.com/pick-up-the-poconos.