CleanupHarvard

04/23/2025

Sign up now for the 2025 Townwide Roadside Trash Cleanup and Garlic Mustard Pull - THIS WEEKEND - April 24 – 27. Weather looks great, singups are low!!! Supply pickup today or Saturday!

What is the Cleanup? Since 2016, hundreds of Harvard’s residents volunteer to collect roadside litter from a half mile of one of Harvard’s roads on the last weekend of April. Working together, we get all the roadside trash! We are also working to eradicate an invasive plant, garlic mustard. Do you want to join us?

You can sign up here: [https://bit.ly/2025Cleanup-GM](https://bit.ly/2025Cleanup-GM)

The cleanup will work the same way as in 2024:
1. Sign up for a road segment (please cancel if your plans change)
2. Pick up supplies at Westward Orchards, 178 Mass Ave:
a. April 23, 2 – 4pm
b. April 26, 9am – 11am
3. Collect trash any time between April 24 – April 27
4. Leave bags of trash on the roadside. DPW will begin picking up on Monday, April 28.
5. Log back in to report how many bags of trash and garlic mustard you collected and how many people were in your group

The SignUp is live at: [https://bit.ly/2025Cleanup-GM](https://bit.ly/2025Cleanup-GM)

Plans for 2025
• Westward Orchards has agreed to let us use their parking lot again. Thank you Westward Orchards!!!
• We continue to fight garlic mustard. We’ll teach you what this non-native plant looks like. If you want, pull any garlic mustard you see, and put it into the yellow bags with the trash.

There’s more information on the Signup front page. Volunteers will get emails with more info closer to the date, but feel free to send us questions. If you have a group of students, please reach out and we’ll find you a low-traffic area.

If you have questions about:
• The Townwide Roadside Trash Cleanup or have trouble with SignUpGenius, write to: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
• Garlic mustard and the garlic mustard pull, write to: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

Thank you for volunteering!

The Cleanup Team: Libby Levison, Brian McClain, Heidi Siegrist, Barbara Romero, Paul Green, Alissa Weiss
The Garlic Mustard Team: Jessie Panek

04/26/2024

Signup now to make your difference this weekend! https://bit.ly/2024Cleanup-GM

04/23/2024

THIS WEEK - SPOTS REMAIN - PICKUP AT WESTWARD - WEATHER LOOKS GREAT!!!: https://bit.ly/2024Cleanup-GM

Don't worry if your segment of street is taken. Work with others by claiming a different spot and cleaning up the whole town! The Signup Genius is much easier to manage on a computer than on a smart phone. We're all in this together! THANK YOU!!!

Pick up supplies (bags, gloves), Westward Orchards parking lot, 178 Mass Ave, on:
Wed., 4/24: 2pm – 4pm
Sat., 4/27: 9am – 11:00am

04/05/2024

2024 Townwide Roadside Trash Cleanup and Garlic Mustard Pull, April 25 – 28

Signup is open!!

What is the Cleanup? Since 2016, hundreds of Harvard’s amazing residents volunteer to collect roadside litter from a half mile of one of Harvard’s roads on the last weekend of April. Working together, we get all the roadside trash! We are also working to eradicate an invasive plant, garlic mustard. Do you want to join us?

You can sign up using this Sign Up: https://bit.ly/2024Cleanup-GM

The cleanup will work the same way as in 2023:
1. Sign up for a road segment (please cancel if your plans change)
2. Pick up supplies at Westward Orchards, 178 Mass Ave:
* April 24, 2 – 4pm
* April 27, 9am – 11am
3. Collect trash any time between April 25 – April 28
4. Leave bags of trash on side of the road. DPW will begin picking up on Monday, April 29.
5. Log back in to report how many bags of trash and garlic mustard you collected.

The SignUp is live at: https://bit.ly/2024Cleanup-GM

Plans for 2024
• Westward Orchards has agreed to let us use their parking lot again. Thank you Westward Orchards!!!
• We continue to fight garlic mustard. We’ll teach you what this non-native plant looks like. If you want, pull any garlic mustard you see, and put it into the yellow bags with the trash.

There’s more information on the Signup front page. Volunteers will get emails with more info closer to the date, but feel free to send us questions. If you have a group of students, please reach out and we’ll find you a low-traffic area.

If you have questions about:
• The Townwide Roadside Trash Cleanup or have trouble with SignUpGenius, write to:
[email protected]
• Garlic mustard and the garlic mustard pull, write to:
[email protected]

Thank you for volunteering!

The Cleanup Team: Libby Levison, Brian McClain, Heidi Siegrist, Barbara Romero, Paul Green
The Garlic Mustard Team: Jessie Panek

04/15/2023

Sign up now for the 2023 Townwide Roadside Trash Cleanup and Garlic Mustard Pull. This year's dates are May 4-7.

What is the Cleanup? Since 2016, hundreds of Harvard’s amazing residents volunteer to collect roadside litter from a half mile of one of Harvard’s roads on the last weekend of April. Working together, we collect that annoying roadside trash! We also are working to eradicate an invasive plant, garlic mustard. Do you want to join us?

You can sign up using this Sign Up: https://bit.ly/2023Cleanup-GM

Plans for 2023:
• Westward Orchards has agreed to let us use their parking lot again. Thank you Westward Orchards!!!
• We continue to fight garlic mustard. It will require a multi-year effort to stop the spread of invasive garlic mustard. This non-native plant will be starting to bloom during our cleanup which makes it easy to identify. If you want, pull any garlic mustard you see, and put it into the yellow bags with the trash.
• Recycling. If you want to separate out glass, metal, and plastic recyclables, please do, and take them home and put them in your household recycling. Use your discretion: if it’s too dirty, it’s trash.

The cleanup will work the same way as in 2022:
• Sign up for a road segment (please cancel if your plans change)
• Pick up supplies at Westward Orchards, 178 Mass Ave:
==> May 3, 2 – 4pm
==> May 6, 9am – 11am
• Collect trash any time between May 4 - May 7
• Leave bags of trash on the roadside. DPW will pick up on Monday, May 8.
• Log back in to report how many bags of trash and garlic mustard you collected.

The SignUp is live at: https://bit.ly/2023Cleanup-GM

There’s more information on the Signup front page. Volunteers will get emails with more info closer to the date, but feel free to send us questions. If you have a group of students, please reach out and we’ll find you a low-traffic area.

Last year we had 350 volunteers. Join us!

If you have questions about:
• The Townwide Roadside Trash Cleanup or have trouble with SignUpGenius, write to:
[email protected]
• Garlic mustard and the garlic mustard pull, write to:
[email protected]

Thank you for volunteering!

The Cleanup Team: Libby Levison, Brian McClain, Heidi Siegrist, Paul Green, Barbara Romero
The Garlic Mustard Team: Jessie Panek

And Garlic Mustard Pull Cleanup dates: May 4 - May 7, 2023 Four easy steps: 1) Select a section of road. Click the box next to the section you want. Most sections are about a 1/2 of a mile, but on roads with lots of trash the segments are about 1/3 of a mile. You can pick the ODD or the EVEN side of...

04/05/2023

2023 Townwide Cleanup and Garlic Mustard Pull - Save the date!!

Thank you to the Select Board who just approved this year's Cleanup and Garlic Mustard Pull! The Cleanup will run from Thursday May 4 to Sunday May 7. Put that on your calendar folks! More information coming soon.

(Yes, we pushed the Cleanup out a week this year so we don't conflict with Town Meeting on April 29. And yes, the Garlic Mustard is already up.)

Questions? Email us at [email protected] or [email protected]

Jessie Panek, Paul Green, Heidi Siegrist, Brian McClain, Libby Levison, and Barbara Romero - the "crew"

04/25/2022

Do you want to help with the cleanup but only have about half an hour to chip in? You can still make a BIG impact with our ONE BAG CHALLENGE!

It is for an adult who wants to make a difference on a main road but cannot commit to a whole segment (don't worry about overlapping, people will appreciate your help). You can sign up at the end of this Sign Up (bit.ly/Cleanup2022) or by just commenting with your email and area you wish to tackle below!

The cleanup will work the same way as in 2021:
• Sign up for a road segment (please cancel if your plans change)
• Be COVID19 safe! If you aren’t feeling well, please stay home and take care of yourself. Drop us a note and we’ll take your name out of the Signup.
• Pick up supplies at Westward Orchards, 178 Mass Ave:
o 4/27, 2 – 4pm
o 4/30, 8am – noon
• Collect trash any time between 4/28 and 5/1.
• Leave bags of trash on the roadside. DPW will pick up on Monday, May 2.
• Log back in to report how many bags of trash you collected, whether you saw any garlic mustard, and whether you pulled it.

If you have questions about:
• The Townwide Roadside Trash Cleanup or have trouble with SignUpGenius, write to:
[email protected]
• Garlic mustard and the garlic mustard pull, write to:
[email protected]

Thank you for volunteering!

The Cleanup Team: Barbara Romero, Brian McClain, Heidi Siegrist, Libby Levison, Paul Green
The Garlic Mustard Team: Jessie Panek

04/22/2022

The 2022 Townwide Roadside Trash Cleanup and Garlic Mustard Pull has not yet started -- which means you still have time to sign up!

What is the Cleanup? Since 2016, hundreds of Harvard’s amazing residents volunteer to collect roadside litter from a half mile of one of Harvard’s roads on the last weekend of April. Working together, we get all the roadside trash! We also are working to eradicate an invasive plant, garlic mustard. Do you want to join us?

You can sign up using this Sign Up: bit.ly/Cleanup2022

The cleanup will work the same way as in 2021:
• Sign up for a road segment (please cancel if your plans change)
• Be COVID19 safe! If you aren’t feeling well, please stay home and take care of yourself. Drop us a note and we’ll take your name out of the Signup.
• Pick up supplies at Westward Orchards, 178 Mass Ave:
o 4/27, 2 – 4pm
o 4/30, 8am – noon
• Collect trash any time between 4/28 and 5/1.
• Leave bags of trash on the roadside. DPW will pick up on Monday, May 2.
• Log back in to report how many bags of trash you collected, whether you saw any garlic mustard, and whether you pulled it.

The SignUp is live at: bit.ly/Cleanup2022

There’s lots of information on the Signup front page. Volunteers will get emails with more info closer to the date, but feel free to send us questions. If you have a group of students, please reach out and we’ll find you a low-traffic area.

If you have questions about:
• The Townwide Roadside Trash Cleanup or have trouble with SignUpGenius, write to:
[email protected]
• Garlic mustard and the garlic mustard pull, write to:
[email protected]

PS: If you're seeing yellow bags start to appear around town, that's thanks to the Harvard Conservation Trust who recruited an unknown number of high school students to pull garlic mustard during school vacation week. The rest of us start *next* week!

Thank you for volunteering!

The Cleanup Team: Brian McClain, Heidi Hunter Siegrist Libby Levison, Paul Green, Barbara Romero
The Garlic Mustard Team: Jessie Panek

05/14/2021

Thank you Cleanup volunteers:

Over 350 people participated in the 2021 Townwide Roadside Trash Cleanup and Garlic Mustard Pull. Almost half of this year’s volunteers were first time volunteers. As of Sunday night, volunteers had reported collecting 484 bags of trash and garlic mustard from over 90% of Harvard’s roads, a huge increase from 2019’s rainy total of 330 bags. Volunteers reported less trash this year, which means volunteers pulled more garlic mustard – great news for our environment.

What impressed us the most about this year’s Cleanup was the townwide commitment to a “together-apart” community event. Thank you volunteers, for making the 2021 Cleanup a COVID-19 safe event and thanks to Westward Orchards for the use of their parking lot for supply handout. We also want to thank the Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Bravehearts and the UU Church Youth Group for participating. Thank you to the Board of Selectmen for their financial support. And, of course, thank you to Tim Kilhart and the DPW crew who collect the bags from Harvard’s 69 miles of roads. The Cleanup wouldn’t work without the DPW’s help.

And finally: thank you to all of Harvard’s residents who pick up trash on our roads and pull garlic mustard all year long.

Libby Levison, Brian McClain, Heidi Siegrist, Jessie Panek, Barbara Romero, Paul Green

Townwide Cleanup and Garlic Mustard Pull organizers