In the spring, Friends of Acadia put together a group of volunteers to do roadside cleanup on Mount Desert Island. I decided to help out, but in my own town. I made a few telephone calls and only came up with 10 people in my town to help out.

Recently, we started work. After covering about eight miles of roadside in six hours I was very surprised at the amount of trash. We collected more than 60 big green trash bags, filled with trash and 10 white bags of returnables that we gave to eighth graders for their class trip.

I also learned what can happen when plastic is thrown out and left in the weather and driven over by cars. After helping with the cleanup efforts, four days later, I took my daughter to the eye doctor after she was complaining that her eye hurt and she barely could keep it open. The doctor took out a tiny piece of plastic that had blown into her eye.

It’s too bad that people litter as it makes everything look terrible and it’s not good for the environment. Everyone is going so fast hurrying from here to there they probably don’t even notice all the trash on the sides of the road. It’s too bad everyone would not take a few minutes every day or once a week to pick up some litter. Just think how much nicer your town would look and you get a good feeling knowing that you helped out.

Julie Hall

Trenton