EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — The City of El Paso is inviting residents, businesses and community groups to help clean up local roadways through its newly expanded Adopt-A-Street program.
The anti-litter initiative has completed its pilot phase and is now open to the public, according to the city.
Participants can choose an available one-mile segment of a street or collector roadway and commit to maintaining it for two years.
Volunteers must complete at least four cleanups each year or one every three months. There is no fee to participate.
The city said it will provide trash bags, gloves, safety vests and cleanup tools. Participants can take bagged trash to one of the city’s five Citizen Collection Stations after a cleanup or arrange for city pickup.
The city will also install two recognition signs along an adopted street segment acknowledging the individuals or group responsible for it.
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El Paso resident Carlos Romero told KFOX14/CBS4 he regularly sees litter along streets and sidewalks.
“You see plastic everywhere, trash cans, even cans in general, like sodas, trash bags, full of trash, just splattered everywhere on the streets, sidewalk, et cetera,” Romero said.
Romero said litter can also affect visitors’ first impression of El Paso.
“They would just think the city is just dirty, that we don’t really maintain ourselves,” he said.
Another El Paso resident who spoke with KFOX14/CBS4 said the time commitment makes the program manageable.
“The length of time that they’re allowing to actually do this program is pretty good. Four days out of the entire year, it’s not a bad thing,” the resident said.
The city said the program is modeled after similar efforts in other cities and is intended to improve the appearance of key gateways, corridors and public spaces.
“If everybody just does their small part, it can make everything better,” another resident told KFOX14/CBS4.
Residents can view available street segments, apply for the program, review guidelines and report completed cleanups through the city’s Adopt-A-Street webpage.
Website: Adopt-A-Street
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