04/20/2026
Earth Day New Bedford North End 2026
One of the greatest Earth Day cleanups ever in the North End of New Bedford. Definitely a “Volunteer Powered Event”
Volunteers gathered to pick up trash, clear sidewalks, and beautify public spaces and waterways, demonstrating their commitment to creating a healthier, safer, and more attractive environment for residents and visitors alike.
Approximately ;
60 Volunteers
50 bags of trash
1,750 pounds of debris
2 City trucks were needed to remove so much debris.
Additionally, the city street sweeper covered large areas of the North End.
So much community involvement resulted in an incredible beautification of the North End of New Bedford.
Operation Clean Sweep (“Clean Sweep”) is beyond grateful for so many Sponsors and individuals:
Corinn Williams with the “Love the Ave” Community who supports the Earth Day movement every year and continuously gives back to so many businesses in the North End.
Welcome to Scott Pemberton Ward 2 City Councilor, for his forward-thinking environmental issues and focus for the residents and businesses of Ward 2. It was great to meet Scott during our Earth Day cleanup. Thanks for helping out.
City of New Bedford City (DPI) support with Billy and Jason canvassing the North End to assist the volunteers with 2 trucks, and to Pedro on the City Street Sweeper. Such an amazing team.
Was great to see Christina Connolly from the Mayor’s office that helps to make a difference at our Earth Day events.
Nautical Whalers Parrot Head Club of Southern Mass that cleared 11 bags of trash just along the fence off Coggeshall St and corner of 195 off ramp. Incredible effort.
Stop and Shop of Dartmouth brought many employees along the neighborhoods and along the waters edge of Riverside Park. Always a problem area. These employees made a huge difference, and we hope to see them back again.
Mark Lavalee also made great progress along the waters edge of Riverside Park. Mark is a very valuable person when it comes to the environment. Beyond committed !
Note that Students from Global Learning Charter Public School (GLCPS) completed their own Earth Day cleanup on their own at Riverside Park. So, a huge day for the Riverside Park community. This is unrelated to OCS but wanted to congratulate them for their efforts.
Marissa Perez-Dormitzer, Waste Reduction Manager with New Bedford Recycling that gave away free recycling bags during the cleanup and educated Volunteers about Recycling benefits and landfill issues.
Welcome to Kate Klein with the City of New Bedford Energy Associate. Kate spoke about the benefits of reducing energy bill costs and saving money for New Bedford Residents. Such a great program with so many benefits to help us all to go greener.
Parrish Roberts who led a team to remove trash along the Market Basket waterfront area and nearby streets. Parrish comes to most of our cleanups.
Welcome from Brooke Kushwaha from New Bedford Light for helping to make an environmental difference to the local community. Brooke reports on local Climate and Environmental issues.
Thank you to Ryan at Domino’s Pizza for providing their delicious Pizza for all our cleanups.
Thank you to Bask, Inc for providing all the Coffee and Donuts for all our cleanups. Joann is always there to support us.
Thank you to our Corporate Sponsors that support us year after year so we can continue with the success of our all-Volunteer Operation Clean Sweep, donations and Sponsorships are welcome.
And a huge thank you to all our incredible Earth Day Volunteers, for participating in this impressive event to beautify the New Bedford North End. Of course, without them..….well let’s not think about that. But THANK YOU for being part of such an amazing Environmental event this Earth Day. We are all beyond grateful for your extraordinary commitment!! The City of New Bedford is a better place to live!
Also special thanks to the team of “Clean Sweep”: Sophie Wotton, Lynn Amicucci, Lynn Coish, Jan Coish, Lorene Sweeney and Marissa Perez-Dormitzer. Such a great team !
And finally Happy 20th Birthday to our Whale Mascot that now has a name - -introducing “Spout” our Spokes Whale for “Clean Sweep” now named “Spout the Clean Sweep Whale.” You will be hearing more from “Spout”, and we are very excited that he now has a name. If you have any suggestions how Spout can help make a difference, please let us know.
You can see that creating an Earth Day event is absolutely a lot of effort by so many people, and organizations. But when you see the results, it is all worth the effort! My apology if I missed any organizations, just let me know if I did.
Thank you to my team and all our above supporters,
Russ Wotton
“Clean Sweep” Earth Day 2026
