Sharpsburg launches Adopt-A-Block program to keep borough clean

Sharpsburg residents can step up to keep the community clean, “adopting” their own little piece of the borough.

Council on March 25 approved an Adopt-A-Block program through which residents and business owners can sign up to rid litter from a particular stretch of road for at least a year.

“I am so very excited for this,” Councilman Jon Jaso said. “We do a cleanup challenge once or twice a year, but in between, it can get pretty out of control.”

Jaso spearheaded the idea for aesthetics but also as a way to boost community pride. People who register could clean weekly, monthly or at their own pace. He proposed that each volunteer or group would be responsible for a stretch of road at least four blocks long.

Councilwoman Karen Pastor voted in favor of the program.

“I think it’s a great idea,” she said. “This is a great way to keep our streets litter-free throughout the year. I’m hoping the residents are excited about it, too, and sign up to participate.”

Jaso said the plan gives interested residents the chance to pitch in on their own schedules and added that it might be nice to recognize volunteers in a way similar to a PennDOT program where signs are erected to thank the street-keepers.

Costs to the borough are expected to be minimal.

The borough already sponsors a communitywide cleanup twice a year that is wildly successful.

An Earth Day event in April has the borough competing against the Etna Community Organization to see which group can collect the most trash. This year’s challenge is 9 a.m. to noon April 24.

In 2019, the two groups drew 320 volunteers and filled two 30-yard dumpsters with tires, aluminum cans, food wrappers and other garbage.

Anyone interested in registering for the new cleanup program can apply at the borough building from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.