Groups to team up for Earth Day cleanup
TerraCycle Include USA P&G Beach Plastic Shampoo Bottle
GLOUCESTER — Local environmental groups are gearing up for an ultimate spring cleaning event in five locations across the city next month.
The Gloucester Clean City Commission, One Ocean One Love Shop, the One Hour at a Time Gang and Cape Ann SUP are partnering for the city-wide clean up. The Great Gloucester Cleanup is scheduled, appropriately, for Earth Day on April 22 from 9 to 11 a.m.
The five locations to be cleaned include Cripple Cove, Pavilion Beach, Main Street, St. Peters Square and the Eastern Point Lighthouse. Volunteers will meet at the site of their choice at 9 a.m. There will be a party with free food afterward for all volunteers from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at One Ocean, One Love Shop at 47 R Parker St.
Each site will have a point person to help organize volunteers and keep track of the number of bags collected.
“We are excited to bring these groups together and we would love to see good turnout from different neighborhoods and different groups. I think this has potential to be a great event and hopefully we can make it an annual event in the future,” Clean City commissioner Ainsley Smith said.
This year, the groups are partnering with TerraCycle, and all hard plastic debris will be collected and upcycled to produce Procter & Gamble’s new line of recycled bottles. In January, Procter & Gamble announced a partnership with TerraCycle to make its Head & Shoulders shampoo bottles both recyclable and made of up to 25 percent “beach plastics” — trash removed from waterways including beaches, oceans and rivers.