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The city announced its third annual Great Suffolk Cleanup, which will take place on March 28 and 29. Led by City Manager Al Moor, this event is meant to localize the Great American Cleanup and encourage community members to pick up litter across the city.

Moor said that driving to work every day and noticing the accumulation of litter on the side of the roads inspired him to start this initiative.

“It’s not the image we want Suffolk to have,” he said.

Moor said the first year of the cleanup was more successful than he anticipated, with their goal of 1,000 participants being exceeded. The next year, 1,500 people participated. This year, Moor said his goal is for 2,000 people to participate. 

Wayne Jones, Public Works community outreach coordinator, said they have around 500 city employees who participate every year. Moor added every city department has at least one person who participates.

To encourage participation, Wayne said they have a competition among the smaller and larger departments to see who can get the most hours and pick up the most trash. The winners get a championship belt.

“It’s great,” he said. “It’s more than just cleaning up. It’s a chance to get outside and actually helping our community but also getting to work and have some fun with your colleagues.”

Outside of city officials, Moor said a lot of local businesses and organizations participate. He said the schools often send people out, the hospitals, warehouse workers, and local restaurants all help out.

Jones said, “It’s basically from individuals and families to businesses, churches … we have a bit of everybody.”

Those willing to participate can register online through the city’s website. The city can lend pickup equipment if needed, and for people unavailable on the designated cleanup days, there’s an option to choose another date. Everyone can pick their own time and pickup location.

Participants are asked to use orange trash bags supplied by the city, which will be picked up at the end of the day by Public Works.

“We don’t expect anybody to have to throw away the bags of trash or debris or whatever it is they find,” said Jones. “We just ask that they pile it together where we can see it, and when they submit a cleanup report, which is a breeze, it’s not hard to do, it tells us where the stuff is, and we’ll pick it up.” 

Moor and Jones both mentioned how pleased they are with the increasing amount of participation each year.

“When we get done, what gives me satisfaction is … I’ll ride around afterward, and I can see the impact we do in two days,” Moor said. “And just think what we could do if we just didn’t throw trash out the window and we took a few moments each month and go out in front of our establishment or our home and pick up some trash and how our city would look.”