CANTON – Brenda Kimbrough has seen a wide assortment of items dumped in her neighborhood over the years: a washing machine, a piano, bags of trash.
The councilwoman is a long-time participant in the city’s Beautify A Neighborhood, or BAN program — a decades-long fight against litter.
The program is a collaboration between communities and city departments on about a dozen Saturdays throughout spring and summer months. This year, the first cleanup was April 11 and the last is scheduled for Sept. 26.
Kimbrough is a member of the Cherry Avenue Neighborhood Development Operations. Her first BAN day was in 2005. That year, volunteers picked up 27 bags of trash from one vacant lot.
This year, she helped host her neighborhood BAN cleanup June 27.
“Trash waits for no one,” she said. “Any day is a good day to pick it up, but it’s wonderful when you have company.”
How does Canton’s BAN program work?
Neighborhood groups and councilmembers can apply for the program and are assigned a designated cleanup date.
The week prior to a cleanup, code inspectors drive through a neighborhood looking for problem properties and knocking on doors to try to educate owners.
The night before, the sanitation department drops dumpsters off in neighborhoods.
During cleanup, city officials and volunteers spend the day picking up trash. Neighbors are encouraged to get rid of any unwanted furniture or trash in provided dumpsters.
The city street department later cleans the street and works to fill potholes.
‘You could never do enough.’ A look at Canton’s litter problem
Despite the volunteer efforts and city programs like BAN, litter is a never-ending issue.
“Litter is a problem in the city of Canton,” Director of Environmental Health Gus Dria said. “If you drive the neighborhood beforehand and after (a BAN day), afterwards, you’re going to see an improvement. The thing is, ultimately, how long does it last?”
Councilman Robert Fisher spearheaded a clean-up July 11. That day, 57 tires, a dumpster full of trash and a pile of discarded furniture were hauled from his southwest neighborhood.
For him, as soon as trash is picked up, more appears. Fisher periodically travels through his ward, picking up trash and encourages others to join him.
“How else is it going to get thrown away? The city doesn’t have an army of people who will come along and pick up trash. To me, it’s just taking pride in your neighborhood.”
Fisher identified a problem in his ward: some trashcans are left on the curb all week with lids open. As a result, trash falls out and ends up in others’ yards or the street.
Kimbrough, who also does independent cleanups, said residents don’t always know what to do with their trash and turn to vacant lots as dumping grounds.
Officials agree the BAN program is a small way to make a dent in the city’s litter problem — and hopefully, encourage neighbors to keep everything clean.
“You don’t have to move to live in a better neighborhood,” Kimbrough said. “The neighborhood is better because you live there.”
What other neighborhoods are on the list this BAN season?
While several areas have already had BAN days this season, there are still more dates scheduled for community members to participate in.
Here’s a list of upcoming neighborhood clean-ups, according to the latest schedule from Canton Public Health:
Aug. 15: Eye I Watch Neighborhood Association, Boundaries: Tuscarawas E to Third Street NE, Market Avenue N to Rowland Avenue NE
Aug. 29: Market Heights, Boundaries: 30th Street NW to 37th Street NW, Frazer Avenue NW to Market Avenue N
Sept. 12: Project REBUILD, (no sanitation dumpsters) Boundaries: Fourth Street NW to 12th Street NW, Fulton Road NW to High Avenue NW
Sept. 19: JoyBloc Neighborhood Association, Boundaries: 12th Street NW to 14th St NW, Fulton Drive NW to Cleveland Avenue N
Sept. 26: Westbrook Veterans Memorial Park Neighborhood Association, Boundaries: 13th Street NW to 9th Street NW, Broad Avenue NW to Harrison Avenue NW
BAN applications open online at the beginning of each year and can be filled out by neighborhood associations or councilmembers.
Contact Abreanna Blose by email at ablose@usatodayco.com or by phone at 330-580-8513.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: ‘Trash waits for no one.’ Inside a program tackling Canton litter
Reporting by Abreanna Blose, Canton Repository / The Repository
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By Abreanna Blose, Canton Repository | USA TODAY Network
