MARATHON — Marathon has launched a new program aimed at assisting those in the community who step up to help keep the community clean.
The new red bag program aims to enable those who volunteer to pick up litter to dispose of it at no cost to themselves, said Serena Goodchild, deputy clerk.
"It's just a way to help residents contribute during their own time, if that’s something that they feel that they want to do by picking up trash and litter throughout the community,” she said.
“So, they can pop into the town office anytime that we're open and grab a few red bags and then leave them on the side of the road and our works and [operations] team or parks team will swing by and pick them up as they see them and take them to the to the waste transfer station and the dump.”
This program was brought forward from the many seniors in our community who have spent their time collecting litter and Goodchild said that depending on usage of the program, it will likely be made a more permanent fixture in the town.
“We're doing it throughout the summer for now,” she said.
“We'll see how busy it is and how many people participate and then we'll let residents know from there if it's something that continues over the winter or if it's just a spring and summer initiative that comes back every year.”
Marathon’s garbage collection works on a bag-tag system where residents currently pay roughly $2.50 according to Goodchild who said that it was important for the town to assist those who devote their time to the community.
“When we see people contributing and wanting to help and beautify the community and take pride, we realize that there's a way for us to do that and take the burden, the financial burden off those volunteers by assisting with collecting and disposing of these bags free of charge,” she said.
For those who wish to take part and help keep the community clean, red bags can be picked up from the town office free of charge and once filled can be left on the side of the road for town employees to collect and dispose.