Greene County Health Department Hosts Countywide Earth Day Clean Up

By Benjamin Cox on April 25, 2022 at 9:37am

Earth Day Clean Up Volunteers pose for a group picture in front of the Greene County Health Department in Carrollton on Friday. (Courtesy of Greene County HD Facebook Page)

Members of the Greene County community and staff of the Greene County Health Department took to the highways and bi-ways to clean up litter for Earth Day on Friday

Health Department Administrator Molly Peters says the first annual event was a huge success: “It went great. We had quite a few community members join us early in the morning here in Carrollton. Then, about 1 o’clock to 3PM we went on U.S. 67 north and did a little bit of clean up there.”

Peters says they were going to weigh the amount of garbage they collected but ran out of time for the day with their volunteers from all over the county.

Peters says the hope is to make this an annual event: “Zoetis has sponsored us and they are willing to sponsor us again. I think that the community itself is going to continue to do pick-up of litter as they can. Hopefully this generates more community efforts.”

Boyd Healthcare Services, St. John’s Catholic School, North Greene School District, First Baptist Church in Carrollton, The Carrollton Square, the Illinois Extension office and the Illinois Master Naturalist Program, the Village of Kane, Carrollton High School, and the Greenfield Revitalization Project all took part in the clean up efforts throughout the county on Friday.

Peters says she hopes the county sees the health department’s holistic approach to healthcare by helping with the environment.