Volunteers from the 110th Airlift Wing in Battle Creek in 2013.
LANSING, Mich. — Volunteers will be picking up litter on the side of Michigan’s highways this weekend.
Participants of the state’s Adopt-A-Highway program will perform their main duty: picking up after sloppy drivers who have thrown trash out their windows, retrieving stuff that has somehow blown off trailers and car tops, and various items whose origins are a mystery.
This year’s volunteers are always appreciated, but maybe a bit more this year than other years. “I want to thank Adopt-A-Highway volunteers for stepping up to clean our roadsides and help MDOT focus its limited funds on fixing our roads,” said State Transportation Director Kirk T. Steudle in a release.
Highway cleanup will not take place all at one time, due to weather. Volunteers in southern lower Michigan will be walking the shoulders April 12 – 20. Cleanup of highways in northern lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula will wait until April 26 – May 4 because snow is still on the ground many areas to the north.
In 2013, groups filled about 70,000 trash bags, saving taxpayers $5.5 million in cleanup costs, says MDOT.
Volunteers will be picking up litter again in July and in September.
