Keep Barnstable Beautiful chapter forms, takes aim at roadside litter

Two years ago, Andrea Pendergast came across a letter to the editor complaining about nip bottles discarded on the ground near her family's store in Centerville, Cape Cod Package Store Fine Wine & Spirits.

"They basically were accusing us of doing the littering," she recalled, "and I said, 'Wait a minute, what can I do to change that perception?"

As part of that effort, she said, she began cleaning up litter she saw along Old Post Road behind the store and saw that, yes, there was a problem there. Then, Pendergast said, "I started to become aware as I was driving around town that litter is prominent everywhere.""

And just as a plan to clean a single room in your house often leads to cleaning everywhere, one thing led to another for Pendergast and a group of fellow residents looking to pick up litter along Barnstable roadsides.

Together, they've formed a new, all volunteer-led organization called Keep Barnstable Beautiful, with a goal to "clean up and green up" the town. It's all part of Keep Massachusetts Beautiful, a nonprofit organization that, according to its website, is "dedicated to the simple idea that 'beauty matters,'" and "a landscape littered with trash is anything but beautiful."

"The number one focus is litter," said Neil Rhein, executive director of Keep Massachusetts Beautiful, who founded Keep Mansfield Beautiful in 2008 and later organized Keep Massachusetts Beautiful in 2014 to support formation of similar groups in other towns.

The organization, he said, works to promote local action through community cleanups and beautification projects.

Forty local chapters

At present, Rhein said, "we have roughly 40 local chapters."

Many of the organization's local chapters came about because of small community cleanup efforts, which is what happened in Barnstable. Pendergast initially started with picking up along Old Post Road and bringing a large blue bin into her family's store for customers to deposit used bottles.

"I basically was saying, 'do your part,' and 'if you don't want to do recycling, put it in this bin. I'll do it for you,'" she said.

Then she met Rhein, who suggested partnering to do a cleanup. Over the last two years, they drummed up volunteers and undertook pop-up cleaning efforts in the spring and fall.

"Each time we got 40 to 50 people to come. He said, 'there's a demand in your town,' and said why not start a local chapter in Barnstable," Pendergast explained.

The idea resonated with Pendergast and the core group of volunteers who showed up time after time to help pick up litter. Now they form the Barnstable chapter's steering committee, besides Pendergast also including Bill and Beth Couet, John Ganey, Alison Mack, Amy Mack, Amy O’Neil and John Pomeroy.

A fall litter sweep

On Nov. 4, the group organized its Fall Litter Sweep. Thirty people turned out to help and the group ended up collecting 65 bags of litter, about 1,300 pounds of trash, Pendergast said, "including some unusual items like TVs, household trash, clothing, CD stand, tires, car parts, mailbox, etc. "

There were many everyday items, too.

Keep Barnstable Beautiful is the first local chapter of Keep Massachusetts Beautiful on Cape Cod, Rhein said. The Cape has "a lot of environmentally minded people" and is very progressive with addressing environmental issues through policy, he said.

Once a chapter begins in a town, he noted, "you tend to see these clusters forming, and that's what we're hoping will happen on the Cape," Rhein said.

Pendergast said she and fellow Keep Barnstable Beautiful committee members are "super excited" about starting a formal chapter.

The group plans to undertake two big cleanups each year, plus any smaller "pop-up" cleanups as needed.

"We're kind of going one village at a time," she said.

Ideally, their work will also include beautification projects and "creating some community pride around maybe planting trees and flowers," as well as working with businesses and talking about "how do we work together" to attack litter.

Residents can get involved by volunteering to help at a cleanup, donating funds to help cover the costs of supplies, or joining the steering committee. To join, donate or volunteer, email keepbarnstablebeautiful@gmail.com or visit the group's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/groups/keepbarnstablebeautiful

Heather McCarron writes about climate change, environment, energy, science and the natural world, in addition to news and features in Barnstable and Brewster. Reach her at hmccarron@capecodonline.com, or follow her on X @HMcCarron_CCT

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: 'It takes a village.' Keep Barnstable Beautiful aims to pick up litter