Litter prompts resident
to call for town cleanup
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer
Manalapan
MANALAPAN — If beer cans, bottles, cigarette butts and burger wrappers on your front lawn bother you, then it just may be time to do something about it.
That is the thought of one township resident who would like to see his thoughts turned into action by community members who would like to get involved.
"I love this area," said resident Mike Goldberg. "There’s a lot of great things about this town, but I see in this beautiful, affluent community there is garbage along the sides of the roads and in shopping centers. It’s not only on Route 9 and Route 33, but it’s there on residential streets [also]. I see it everywhere."
Goldberg said you can see everything: from soda bottles, cans, containers, beer bottles, hamburger packaging, plastic bags, cigarette butts and all types of garbage — the things people throw out their car windows as they drive through town; to larger items that are just dumped like old television sets, and large boxes of trash.
"It would appear, from where the garbage lands, that some people are just throwing it out of their car windows," he said. "But it’s also there on the soccer field when you leave the game. There’s litter all over. It’s just left there.
"It’s not good for the community," he said. "It doesn’t make us look good. It doesn’t reflect well and I don’t see how it could be good for property values."
Goldberg said everyone in the community has made a substantial investment in their home and it is incumbent upon everyone to maintain that investment.
He also said he does not think the problem is only in Manalapan, but that’s where he spends most of his time.
"I think there is a litter problem in general," he said. "but maybe we can make a difference in our own community."
Goldberg said he believes this should be a civic campaign that should not be funded by Manalapan’s government. When asked what can be done to combat the litter, he said the first step is to bring the situation to everyone’s attention since many people may not even realize there is a problem.
Then, he said, he would like to see people get involved, particularly teenagers and other children in the community. Finally, maintaining the town’s neat appearance after the cleanup effort would be the key to resolving the situation.
"Maybe [it could be done] through the schools, the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, some community organizations, churches, synagogues, or someone out there who knows how to organize this," he said. "It could be possible for different groups of people to work together to target different areas around town."
Goldberg said he has no complaints about the sanitation pick-up in town, nor the way commercial businesses handle their own rubbish removal.
"I believe the commercial people in the community are doing their very best," he said. "They’re policing and cleaning their property. This is just people leaving litter."
Now that the school year has begun, Goldberg said he is hoping school personnel will be interested in getting involved with some form of ecology or environmental projects that would be beneficial to the community.
"It’s good citizenship," he said. "It would be a great community service and it makes great sense."
Goldberg said he hopes his idea will get some form of support from people in the community who would like to see "Manalapan Sparkle." He said he would try to make himself available to speak with groups who may be interested in developing a plan of action.
"This is a good community," he said. "I just want to help make it better."
Anyone wishing to become involved can send an e-mail to Goldberg at [email protected].