illegal dumping is, sadly, an old story in the Pine Barrens and elsewhere in South Jersey.
So, too, is the annual Pine Barrens 4-Wheel Drive Cleanup. The cleanup has been an annual event for four-wheel-drive enthusiasts for 12 years. This year's cleanup was held Oct. 27 in the Wharton State Forest. And the haul was jaw-dropping ... as it is every year.
The participants, more than 300 people in almost 150 four-wheel-drive vehicles, filled two full-sized Dumpsters. And that doesn't include the six pickup trucks of tires that were hauled out of the woods and other items too big for the Dumpsters - furniture, boats, a purple couch and a pile of 4-foot-long, 18-inch-diameter asbestos-coated pipes.
Then there was the mammoth pile of roof shingles. "We had 14 people, and it took us four hours. I never want to see another stinking shingle in my whole life. My fingertips are killing me," said Terry Schmidt, the cleanup coordinator.
Litter is bad enough, but this illegal dumping is litter on steroids, much of it apparently left in the woods by unscrupulous contractors.
To us, such dumping is an act of violence against the Earth. It is simply unfathomable that someone - so many someones - would haul trash into an otherwise pristine state forest and dump it there. Who are these people?
Thank goodness for the four-wheel-drive enthusiasts who take part in the annual cleanup. Imagine if this cleanup hadn't been done every year for the last 12 years. And what do these volunteers get for their efforts? Free wings at an after-party at the Pic-A-Lilli Inn just up the road in Shamong Township.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_a9480c1b-34e3-5db3-b028-da6ddaeba3f0.html
So, too, is the annual Pine Barrens 4-Wheel Drive Cleanup. The cleanup has been an annual event for four-wheel-drive enthusiasts for 12 years. This year's cleanup was held Oct. 27 in the Wharton State Forest. And the haul was jaw-dropping ... as it is every year.
The participants, more than 300 people in almost 150 four-wheel-drive vehicles, filled two full-sized Dumpsters. And that doesn't include the six pickup trucks of tires that were hauled out of the woods and other items too big for the Dumpsters - furniture, boats, a purple couch and a pile of 4-foot-long, 18-inch-diameter asbestos-coated pipes.
Then there was the mammoth pile of roof shingles. "We had 14 people, and it took us four hours. I never want to see another stinking shingle in my whole life. My fingertips are killing me," said Terry Schmidt, the cleanup coordinator.
Litter is bad enough, but this illegal dumping is litter on steroids, much of it apparently left in the woods by unscrupulous contractors.
To us, such dumping is an act of violence against the Earth. It is simply unfathomable that someone - so many someones - would haul trash into an otherwise pristine state forest and dump it there. Who are these people?
Thank goodness for the four-wheel-drive enthusiasts who take part in the annual cleanup. Imagine if this cleanup hadn't been done every year for the last 12 years. And what do these volunteers get for their efforts? Free wings at an after-party at the Pic-A-Lilli Inn just up the road in Shamong Township.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_a9480c1b-34e3-5db3-b028-da6ddaeba3f0.html