It's Time for the Entire County to be Tidied Up

This year's Columbia-wide cleanup event proved to be a shining example of people getting together to better their community, organizers say.

And in about two weeks, residents around Howard County will be asked to use 20 minutes of their day for tidying up the areas in which they live and work.

Twenty minutes might not seem like much, but county government staff believe that little bit of time can go a long way.

"We can all do a little bit," said Joshua Feldmark, director of the county's office of environmental sustainability. "These 20 minutes are meant to sort of bolster some of the other cleanup programs that we have. If everyone cleans up what’s right around them, that’s the best way to get folks involved."

This will be the second year for the county's "20-Minute Cleanup," which is scheduled for Thursday, April 14.

Last year, more than 1,000 residents went outside and gathered trash.

"Springtime is sort of a perfect time," Feldmark said. "We're coming out of winter, and the early spring rain just flushes all this trash out into the open. This is a good time to take a moment and clean this place up."

County staff suggest that people look around their offices, schools and neighborhoods. Any trash that is gathered will only be collected during the regular garbage pick-up time. They also recommend people recycle as much as possible.