“The community clean up is a necessity for Seminole and the surrounding area. Every year we are so thankful for the volunteers that take time to care about the town. We also would like to thank City Council, Keep Oklahoma Beautiful, and The Great American Clean Up for continued support in these types of programs,” said City Manager Steve Saxon.
The City of Seminole will host its 3rd Annual Seminole Community Clean Up from April 15th – 23rd. This program is operated through The Keep America Beautiful® Great American Cleanup® which is the nation’s largest community improvement program, which takes place annually in an estimated 15,000 community events nationwide. At community clean-up events across the country, such as Seminole's Community Clean Up, they offer volunteers with garbage bags, gloves, and vests. There were over 200 volunteers in each of Seminole’s clean up over the past two years and each year a new component has been added to the program. Visit www.Seminole-Oklahoma.net/community-clean-up to register and learn more about the initiative.
At the first clean up, community organizations, businesses, and individuals were invited to clean and improve different areas of Seminole. “We originally tried to make it a one day event, and it seemed there were several conflicting schedules of people that wanted to participate. We had than 20 different groups sign up after extending the dates to a week surrounding Earth Day. There were over 250 bags of trash collected that week. We were excited about the success of that event and looked forward to seeing it grow,” said Public Information Officer Briana Wymore, who has organized the clean up the last 2 years.
The City of Seminole wanted to keep up the cleanup since they knew it was beneficial to the community in various ways. “We saw organizations ‘adopt a park’ where they cleaned the park, repainted equipment, and found ways to improve the parks. What was wonderful about this is that no one asked them to do any of it. They took action because they saw a need and wanted to be a part of the solution. It was a huge help to Seminole,” said Public Works Director Bryant Baker.
Several of the same organizations that participated the first year also participated the second year. Seminole softball player Addison Hill commented, “Our team picked up trash on Strothers from Main to Harvey. We picked up so much more trash the first year than the second year. It was cool to see that our efforts made a difference.”
An E-Waste recycling program was added to the clean up last year. The City collected over 100 electronics from the community and a volunteer drove them to Computer Nation in Midwest City. This will happen once again for 2023. This will happen once again in 2023. For additional information on recycling electronics, call 405-382-4330 ext. 113 or go to the clean up website.
A new added feature to Seminole Community Clean Up is the tire recycling program led by Code Enforcement Officer Amy Harmon. She applied for a grant through Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) that allows City of Seminole to host a tire recycling program. The grant paid for the materials and construction of the shed, fence to go around the site and a sign that has the rules of the program. DEQ issued a permit to the city that allows us to hold the tires and they will come to pick them up when it is time to recycle. Since March 1st, 2023, Seminole residents are allowed to take tires to the shed located at 901 A Street (behind the fire department) from 8am to 5pm. This program will be continuous throughout the year.
For questions or concerns about Seminole Community Clean Up, please contact Briana Wymore through email at Briana@Seminole-Oklahoma.net or by phone at 405-382-4330 ext 113.