MILTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Some Milton residents are battling not-so-green leftovers after Green Up Day.
Two days after Green Up Day, a pile of tires still looms over Steve Pecor’s Milton home.
“I’m kind of surprised because I figured someone would come and pick them all up,” Pecor said.
Pecor, who has lived in Milton for decades, says the debris on Pre Cast Road is a first.
“Never seen any trash actually over there on that piece of property over there. That’s why I think it surprised us when we happened to see it, all the sudden this big mountain of tires,” he said.
Pecor’s street isn’t the only one. Heaps of tires and other trash dot Route 7 south and side streets throughout Milton. Locals swarmed Facebook Sunday night condemning the mess.
Milton Town Manager Don Turner says the highway department was out all day Saturday picking up as much as they could. But he says residents who left out piles of their personal trash– rather than what they cleaned up from their community– clogged up the clearing.
“You’re putting that burden on everybody else in this town and the taxpayers of this town to get rid of the property you no longer need,” Turner said.
An old couch, a TV, tables and tires were dumped outside a home on West Milton Road, causing a stir among neighbors.
“I think it’s disgusting,” said Richard Barron of Milton. “I think people should take their stuff to the dump like everybody else does and not dirty our roadsides.”
Green Up Vermont says it’s not uncommon for Vermonters to treat Green Up Day as a free trash pickup.
“It’s really unfortunate and disheartening for all those who work so hard on Green Up Day and the rest of the year just picking up public space litter and roadside litter,” said Kate Alberghini of Green Up Vermont.
Hollianne Borthwick of Milton spent hours on Saturday with her partner and kids clearing debris dumped in the woods near their home.
“It’s not fun when the kids get out and they see that there’s trash everywhere and they make comments about it. So, we decided that, for Green Up Day, we’d go out and do our part,” Borthwick said.
As for residents taking advantage of Green Up Day…
“There may have to be some more education, more publicity, more explaining to residents that it’s not the day for you to get rid of your household trash or property that you don’t want to or have time to get rid of,” Turner said.
Turner says the highway department is stretched thin picking up piles while tackling a culvert replacement project but is working as fast as possible to clean up Green Up leftovers.
We are still waiting on an official count on just how much trash was picked up over the weekend. Officials at Green Up Vermont expect to have a tally later this week on that and whether or not we broke the world record for the most pledges received for trash cleanup in 24 hours.