The Student Government Association, Miss Marshall 2019 and the Office of Community Outreach and Volunteer Services are working together to make Huntington cleaner. 

“The Green Sweep is an event open to students on March 14, to clean the area around campus,” Emma Ellis, Miss Marshall 2019, said. “Volunteers will be assigned a route around campus to pick up garbage.” 

Students will be given gloves and trash bags to assist with cleanup. Ellis said the Marshall’s Sustainability Department is providing most of the supplies that will be given to volunteers. Additionally, tarps will also be set up for when students return to campus with their bags. The contents will then be weighed before and after it is all sorted so that participants can see how much of Huntington’s waste is recyclable. Recyclable contents will then be entered into a nationwide contest called RecycleMania, which feature universities from across the nation in a competition to see who can recycle the most materials. 

“The purpose of this project is to increase the cleanliness of the Huntington community,” Ellis said. “Our plan is to do a mass cleaning sweep across the city’s streets, parking lots and parks to collect waste.” 

The amount of sections to be cleaned will be determined by how many volunteers participate. Participating offices are set to give out Marshall Green Sweep t-shirts to the first 150 volunteers that check in at 10 a.m. that morning. Ellis said she hopes this will become an annual event sustained by the future SGA’s secretary of green initiative and campus conservation. 

Jentre Hyde, the current SGA secretary, said she is hopeful that Ellis’ desire for an annual event will be true.

“I am hoping that the next presidents decide to keep my position so this project can live on year after year,” Hyde said. 

Hyde said she has tried to plan a service project or advocate for a new change each semester to help make Marshall and Huntington greener. 

Last semester, Hyde was able to get paper straws as an option for students to use in the Memorial Student Center. This semester, she is working on the Green Sweep along with Ellis, Brian Stein and Alex Hewitt. Hyde said she wants this event to serve as not only a way to get out and give back to the community, but also as showing students how easy it is to recycle.

“My goal for the event is to make our campus and the surrounding area litter free while also educating the students on campus on how to recycle,” Hyde said. “I want students to realize how much they throw away every day that could be just as easily recycled.”

Students interested in volunteering can register on the event’s HerdLink. 

Abby Hanlon can be contacted at [email protected].