Volunteers needed for “pop up” park clean-ups in Elmira

ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – The non-profit group “ Friends of the Chemung River Watershed ” held the first of several “pop up” clean-up events happening in May. Today we saw Executive Director Elizabeth Zilinski picking up trash by herself at Jim Nelson Park on West Hudson Street during a light rain at noon.

The next cleanup is set for Wednesday May 15th at Mark Twain Riverfront Park, from noon to 1 pm.

“We typically see 30 to 40 volunteers for a big cleanup. For cleanups like this we’ll usually have 4 or 5. Today was a rainy day. I was hoping for at least one, and I got one. I’m counting you,” Zilinski told 18 News reporter Nick Dubina.

“We’re going to start doing these one-hour cleanups at lunchtime around different parks here in Chemung County, and eventually we’ll expand to the other counties. What we’re looking for is how much garbage there is in the park. What things the park needs fixed up for example, we encountered a lot of graffiti at this park. So that’s something we’d want to bring to the attention of the city and they will send somebody out to fix that up,” Zilinski said,

“The garbage cans are here; they’re clearly being utilized. Both cans are filled to the top and you help me do this cleanup. So, thank you very much and we did get a full bag of garbage. This is actually a pretty clean site. So, it’s unusual to get so little trash.”

“What are some of the most common things you pick up at cleanups like this?” Dubina asked.

“Cigarette butts are my worst enemy,” Zilinski answered. “We see people chuck them out of the windows all the time. And I’ve asked people why they check their cigarette butts and what they say is well, it’s made out of paper, so it’s just going to degrade anyway. What most people don’t know is that the filters and cigarette butts do contain plastic so they will not just break down. So please don’t do that. Please chuck your cigarette butts in the trash,” Zilinski said.

Zilinski provides the gear volunteers need to pick up trash safely. They include work gloves, “grabber” arms, bags, hand sanitizer and a “sharps container.”

“We do have a sharps container that we bring to cleanups and that’s in case we do encounter drug paraphernalia or small pieces of glass,” Zilinski said. “For example, when we cleaned up downtown Elmira, we did find some needles, we did find a meth pipe and those are things we wouldn’t want the volunteers touching and we would want in a contained unit because if we just throw it in the trash it might break through the bag. So, we do always bring a sharps container with us just in case. I will say we don’t often encounter those things.

“So that’s rare, we want to be clear here,” said Dubina.

“Yes, we don’t often see that,” Zilinski answered.

“Did you find anything like that here today?”

“No nothing like that. This is one of my favorite parks that has the best slide in the opinion of my children. It is generally very clean here.”

Zilinski said Mayor Dan Mandell and City Manager Michael Collins invited the “”Friends of the Chemung River” to a meeting on Friday. Zilinski says the goal is to find ways to work with the city to keep Elmira trash-free all year, including parks, the downtown area and the riverfront.

“The city is very supportive,” Zilinski said. “And again, we’re not expecting to get any money from the city, but what we do need is that kind of support. The Department of Public Works is very supportive of our efforts here, and we do have a lot of support from the council members as well, including council members Cooke, Brinn and Grasso.”

“You said these clean-ups are a way to find out what it takes to keep these areas clean and inform the city on the status of these parks,” Dubina said.

“Yeah, for a park like this, one of the things I wanted to see was in a pinch how many volunteers would I need to clean this park in an hour,” Zilinski said. “We spent about 45 minutes here with just us two and we got the whole park cleaned up. So that is an excellently cleaned park and that’s something we can definitely add more into the rotation. That’s a delightful cleanup that I’d be happy to do more often.”

The next cleanup is set for Wednesday, May 15th from noon to 1pm at Mark Twain Riverfront Park.

You can watch the full interview with Elizabeth Zilinksi below:

ELMIRA, N.Y. ( WETM ) — The Friends of the Chemung River Watershed are inviting the community to help clean up different areas of Elmira in May.

The River Friends are hosting pop-in, pop-out clean-up events for one hour on some weekdays this month. One staff member will be at the predetermined location with cleaning supplies from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. for quick cleanups. Those who would like to help beautify Elmira don’t need to register or bring anything to these events.

Upcoming clean-up events can be found below:

• Monday, May 13
  • Jim Nelson Park
    • 619 W. Hudson St.
  • The clean-up will start at the playground.
• Wednesday, May 15
  • Mark Twain Riverfront Park
    • 250 E. Water St.
  • The clean-up will start at the corner of South Main Street and Water Street.
• Thursday, May 16
  • Hathorne Park
    • 349 Woodlawn Ave.
  • The clean-up will start at the playground.
• Monday, May 20
  • McKinnon Park
    • 1354 Lake St.
  • The clean-up will start at the pavilion on East Thurston Street.
• Tuesday, May 28
  • Beecher Street Park
    • 578 Cypress St.
  • The clean-up will start on the playground.

Any scout groups, youth groups, businesses, or other organizations that would like to do a clean-up event in Elmira are encouraged to reach out to the Chemung River Friends by emailing director@chemungriverfriends.org. If you find a public area along the Chemung River Watershed that needs some attention or if you find a dumping site in the area, you can report it by emailing the River Friends.

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