We will be asking for pre-registration as we will once again be distributing shirts to the sites. We will be providing snacks and drink to volunteers. Volunteers will report directly to the site they have selected for cleanup. DEADLINE TO REGISTER TO BE GUARANTEED A SHIRT IS 8/27. Please come out and help us put a squeeze on litter!
Sites will include- Mashes Sands Sopchoppy River Woolley Park Bottoms Road Shell Point St Marks at San Marcos de Apalache St Marks Lighthouse
Due to our April event reaching capacity early, we are having another Household Hazardous Waste Day on 7/31/21. There are some changes to note that will be effective for all of our household waste events moving forward. These changes should help in keeping some of the commercial businesses from filling our receptacles that are intended only for residential homes in Wakulla. This should also keep residents from holding on to items that can be readily disposed of and having such long lines to wait in on the day of the amnesty event.
Here are some of the changes to note going forward:
Latex paint should not be brought to these events. Latex paint is not hazardous when dried and can then be tossed in with household garbage. If there is a small amount of paint left in the can, you can let the paint dry by leaving it in a well-ventilated area until it hardens, stirring it once every few days. When setting out paint to dry-up, try filling partially empty cans withwaste paint hardener, shredded newspaper or cat litter to aid in clumping up the leftover paint so that it dries up faster. https://www.wikihow.com/Safely-Dispose-of-Paint
Other paint brought to these events will be limited to 2- 5 gallon buckets or 5- 1 gallon cans per resident.
Non-alkaline household batteries can be placed in a plastic container and disposed of in your household trash. These should not be brought to Hazardous Waste Day. Check out this link if you have any questions on battery disposal. https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/Battery-Fact-Sheet_09Dec15.pdf All other batteries will be accepted.
Electronics can be donated (to Goodwill for example) or disposed of with household garbage. Televisions are the exception and will be taken at this event.
On Saturday, February 27 Keep Wakulla County Beautiful along with the US Forest Service hosted the Apalachicola National Forest Cleanup. This event kicks off the Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup for KWCB. 85 volunteers from USFS, KWCB, Wakulla County residents, and surrounding areas came out to assist in getting our beautiful forest lands clean. We had a large group of students from Florida State University that joined us this year as well as a group from our own Wakulla High School.
There were 11 sites that had been identified as having an excessive amount of litter or being used for illegal dumping. Items removed from the forest included appliances, shingles, 15 tires, pool frames & liners, mattresses, and boats- yes, BOATS. These items are in addition to the normal litter that is found of shell casings, bottles, cans, plastic, and styrofoam containers. In total approximately 12,052 pounds of litter were removed from our forest. Tashunda Williams, Recreation Program Manager for the US Forest Service, states “we are so thankful for everyone that participates to help us get the forest cleaned up”.
Of the 573,521 acres of Apalachicola National Forest, over 172,000 acres of this forest lies within Wakulla County. Wildlife that can be found in our forest includes Florida black bears, whitetail deer, fox squirrels, coyotes, alligators, and snakes, as well as protected, threatened, and sensitive species such as the American bald eagle, gopher tortoise, striped newt, and Flatwoods salamander. Did you know that The Apalachicola National Forest has the world’s biggest population of endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers; broad white bands painted around the trunks of longleaf pine trees indicate nest clusters. “We are so fortunate to have the beauty of the forest and it’s wildlife right here and accessible to us” said Tammie Nason, Director of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful “it is such a shame that not everyone respects our fragile environment”.
Litter in our forests can pose risks to wildlife and environment in several ways. Toxins from accumulated litter can leak into the soil and eventually into the water. These toxins can be ingested by wildlife in the forest as well as some items that may cause injuries. Excessive litter can also affect the amount of light reaching the soil. This can cause an increase in herbivorous insects and decrease the growth of seedlings and other plant life. Litter tends to be flammable increasing the risk of fire hazards.
If you see any litter sites or dumping in the forest, please reach out to the Wakulla Ranger District at (850)926-3561. A thank you goes out to Wakulla County for supporting our events, WastePro for the donation of the dumpsters used for these large cleanup events, and our volunteers. We could not do this without them.
