MONTVALE, N.J.—The borough is thanking 110 residents who showed up to clean up on the weekend of April 10.
“Montvale’s 2021 Clean-up Day was late this year but still a huge success. We had 110 residents lend hands around town and collected well over 1,000 pounds of trash,” the borough says on its website.
Volunteers started at 9 a.m. on Saturday “and though the event was scheduled to end at noon some residents kept going throughout the weekend. Participants received a Bergen County Clean Community Mask, a reusable shopping bag, T-shirts, and a backpack.”
Bob Hanrahan, chair of the Montvale Environmental Commission, said of the sixth annual event, “With the help of the Montvale Environmental Commission, Montvale Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Cub Scouts, along with so many other resident volunteers, we gathered with masks while maintaining safe social distance.”
He told Pascack Press, “Our residents demonstrated true care for our community by spending hours cleaning around our seven drinking waterways and many public areas throughout town, especially the area around Pascack Brook where later this year we will open our new nature trail.”
He added, “It’s these types of efforts that helps maintain safe and healthy drinking water for all, and a great looking town here in Montvale.”
Organizers said volunteers brought back plastic, tires, metal—and a couch found in the woods.
The winner of the most unusual item was Ashton Meyerson, who recovered an animal skull. His prize: a desk organizer.
Hanrahan told Pascack Press a third of the turnout were not with an organization, “just people who wanted to come out and spend the day with us.”
He said this sixth annual effort has established itself as a fun tradition that brings out so many, including the mayor and council. “Of the 23 Boy Scouts and leaders from Montvale Troop 334, 10 of them actually reside in Woodcliff Lake but went out of their way to help a neighboring community.”
He noted these events are supported by the Bergen County Clean Communities program, “from which the borough receives significant support throughout the year.”
For more photos, visit the borough’s website.