Volunteers keep Oklahoma City beautiful

Metro volunteers are doing their part to keep Oklahoma City clean and green as part of the program OKC Beautiful.

Saturday, August 16th 2008, 11:44 pm

By: News 9


By Jennifer Pierce, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Metro volunteers are doing their part to keep Oklahoma City clean and green as part of the program OKC Beautiful.

Volunteers spent their Saturday morning talking trash at Wiley Post Park. They took part in the city's first park clean-up day.

"Our parks are a valuable asset to our city and to the economy," OKC Beautiful Director Janie Deupree said.

The parks department and OKC Beautiful chose Wiley Post to launch the "Keep It Green, Keep it Clean" recycling program because of the amount of traffic that comes through the park.

"We seem to have a lot more trash than usual because people are coming out and staying for an entire day, " Deupree said.

The clean-up was an eye-opening experience for volunteers.

"More than you would expect, lots of cigarette butts and cans, bottles and styrofoam, lots of little things everywhere," said volunteer Matt Boggs.

Boggs brought his 4-year-old nephew, Colton, to the event. Colton and the other children are learning at a young age how to recycle.

"The trash, you know, once it's here much of it doesn't decompose and it spoils the beauty and usability of the park," the OKC Beautiful Director said.

Organizers have seen the success other communities have had with their recycling programs and they hope recycling becomes part of Oklahoma City citizens' daily routines.

"I was in Colorado and hiking and there was no trash, no litter along those trails. Their motto is ‘Pack it in, pack it out, leave no footprint' and it seems all the people that are using the trails seem to have gotten the message," Deupree said. "We hope we can get that message across in OKC."

If you want to volunteer or learn more about the program call OKC Beautiful at 528-8822.

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