A group looking to implement a plan to reduce litter in Springfield, Massachusetts sought help today from the state.
Members of the Advisory Litter Committee, following up on one of the recommendations the group made in its report released last March, met with aides to members of Springfield’s legislative delegation Monday seeking a commitment to increase the budget for MassDOT to improve cleanup along the interstate highways that traverse the city.
There is no specific dollar amount being sought. Staffers for State Senators Adam Gomez and Jake Oliveira and for Representatives Carlos Gonzalez and Bud Williams offered to try to set up a meeting with the top MassDOT official for the region.
Erica Swallow, the Forest Park neighborhood resident who chairs the litter committee, said she was encouraged following the 90-minute meeting.
“Everyone seemed really engaged, we had good attendance from the representatives’ offices, and we have some solid action items which is important,” Swallow said.
The activists want MassDOT to commit to a twice-monthly schedule to pick up trash along the highways.
“As citizens,we are taking it upon ourselves to help our city get some action,” Swallow said.
The committee was created earlier this year by Ward 6 City Councilor Victor Davila. Meeting over the course of a few months with community members and city officials, the group brainstormed ideas for solving the city’s litter problem and issued a final report with 12 specific recommendations.
“We are not going to let this report go, by the way, this is not going to go on the shelf, I can assure you that,” Davila said speaking with reporters Monday.
Topping the list of proposals is the creation of a litter czar who could coordinate the city’s efforts across multiple departments that all have a hand in trash and blight removal.
Progress is being made on implementing one of the recommendations – introduction of an anti-litter curriculum in the city’s public schools.
“(The schools) are going to be incorporating in the elementary schools for next year a curriculum addressing litter,” Davila said. “For this year they are going to be doing a shorter version for the summer classes so that is a huge-huge first step.”
Davila said he’ll introduce a resolution asking the full City Council to support the call for more state funding to keep Springfield clean.
He also encouraged the state to include plastic water bottles in the state’s container deposit law. Efforts to expand the bottle bill have been made for more than a decade, but have come up short in the legislature.
