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Skyline Parkway to be cleaned as part of the City of Duluth Clean and Green Week’s Celebration of Global Youth Service Day

Over 200 volunteers, comprised of youth, community members, and True North AmeriCorps and Minnesota Reading Corps members, have signed up to help clean Skyline Parkway – the first full garbage pick-up of this scenic roadway in 11 years. 

On Friday, April 23, Global Youth Service Day, volunteers from across the community will gather along Skyline Parkway to participate in a clean-up and beautification project stretching over 11 miles. Organizers of the project anticipate that hundreds of plastic bottles, thousands of cigarette butts, and many pounds of litter will be collected.

Event organizers will be meeting at 8:30AM on Friday, April 23, at Bayfront Park’s Family Center before heading out to the designated sections along Skyline Parkway. There, they will be meeting with community and youth volunteers to collect trash. There will be an intentional focus on recycling and cigarette waste. “Cigarette butts are the number one littered item in our community. It is especially important that we raise awareness about the environmental impacts”, said Jill Rogers, Program Manager with the American Lung Association in Minnesota. “One person smoking a pack and a half a day will consume more than 10,000 cigarettes in a year, creating 3.75 pounds of litter.

Event organizers anticipate many interesting items will be collected on Global Youth Service Day. Skyline Parkway, one of the most beautiful scenic routes in our community, is frequently used as a place to dump garbage. Groups that have cleaned Skyline in the past expect this year’s volunteers to see everything from kitchen appliances and furniture to candy wrappers and newspapers.

“Skyline is truly the backbone to our community. It’s a sad fact that Skyline has so much litter, as is the environmental impact that litter has on the whole community,” said Blair Gagne, Program Director with True North AmeriCorps. “It may be tossed on Skyline, but we see it in our lakes, streams, wildlife. We are proud to be part of the solution to the problem.”

The Skyline Parkway Clean-Up is a collaborative project of True North AmeriCorps, Minnesota Reading Corps, Minnesota Green Corps, the City of Duluth Parks and Recreation Division and Maintenance Operations, American Lung Association in Minnesota and Service Learning Duluth – ISD 709. 

For more information contact: anorris@duluthmn.gov

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