CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) is now accepting registrations for the Adopt-A-Highway Spring Statewide Cleanup set for Saturday, April 23.

Co-sponsored by the WVDEP and the state Division of Highways, the Adopt-A-Highway program is administered by the WVDEP’s Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan (REAP) and improves the quality of the state’s environment by encouraging public involvement in the elimination of highway litter.

Since the program’s inception in 1988, state citizens have cleaned up close to 70,000 miles of state highways and roads during annual spring and fall Adopt-A-Highway events.

Individuals, families, churches, businesses, schools, civic organizations, government agencies and communities can register to pick up trash on almost any state-maintained road, back road or main route. Private roads and interstate highways cannot be adopted.

The Adopt-A-Highway program provides garbage bags, work gloves and safety vests to volunteers, and takes care of disposing of collected trash. Volunteers must be at least 12 years old to participate. One-time cleanups are encouraged but must be registered.

Groups must register in advance by April 15th and inform their county DOH garage if they need supplies. Due to COVID-19, each group must designate a person to do a curbside pickup of the supplies at their garage.

To register, call 1-800-322-5530 or send an email to dep.aah@wv.gov. If you reach the REAP voicemail, please leave your name, phone number, group name, date of cleanup, number of participants, and the county where your adopted road is located.

The 2021 Adopt-A-Highway spring clean up saw over 3,500 volunteers from over 400 groups and removed 240,000 pounds of litter from over 1,000 miles of roadway.

REAP, whose motto is ‘Keeping WV Clean and Green,’ was created in 2005 and strives to clean up West Virginia and rid the state of litter. The program empowers citizens to take ownership of their communities by providing technical, financial, and resource assistance in cleanup and recycling efforts. More information is available on the REAP webpage: https://dep.wv.gov/environmental-advocate/reap/Pages/default.aspx.