It’s hard to believe that this is the eighteenth year of the Townwide Roadside Cleanup with the blue bag option. Recent postings on the Canterbury Facebook page makes me realize it’s time for a refresher on how this whole program works, with a little history thrown in.

Canterbury had an organized spring roadside cleanup for many years before the blue bags became important. Why did they become important? Because in October 2006, Canterbury became the first town in the capital region to switch to a pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) bag program. 

Regardless of the reason, Canterbury wanted to make sure that there was no financial penalty (as in having to use your own bags to throw away roadside litter) for participating in the townwide cleanup day. Hence, the blue bags, first courtesy of NH the Beautiful (an industry group that loves sponsoring things like this so New Hampshire doesn’t enact a bottle bill), and now courtesy of the Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA), which would probably be just as happy if we had a bottle bill. That’s why the blue bags are available, year-round at the Transfer Station, to anyone willing to pick up roadside litter.

It’s something of an honor system, although other Facebook posts make me realize that some of us are more honorable than others. That’s why the Transfer Station staff is asking for proof that roadside litter that requires a disposal fee is accompanied by a picture of the roadside with the litter.

Townwide Roadside Cleanup Day (Saturday, April 13) itself is very simple. Let me know what section of Canterbury’s byways you want to remove the litter from, pick up some blue bags, either from me or the Transfer Station, pick up the litter, maybe on the organizing day, maybe on a nice weather day, maybe on a day when you’re just plain sick and tired of looking at Bud Lite cans, and then bring the litter to the Transfer Station. 

There are two ways to make it even better. First, you could separate out your recyclables, just the way I know everyone in Canterbury does with their home trash. (Recycling is mandatory in Canterbury, you know.) But don’t let the recycling requirement stop you from participating. As I remind everyone every year, it’s sure as heck not being recycled sitting on the side of the road. Still, a nice way to keep the amount of trash going to the incinerator down, and with it, our property taxes.

The second way to make it better is to let me know what sections of the road you want to do on Townwide Roadside Recycling day. That has two benefits. First, I can let you know whether you can expect to find any trash out there, because someone else may have already signed up for it. When people let me know, I reach out to them in subsequent years to see if they’re still interested. And two, I can add your name to the list that I give to the Transfer Station staff of people who have signed up to participate, and you don’t have to be taking pictures of things like computer monitors, tires, toilets and construction waste that show up along our roads.

There are lots of people signed up, but they don’t cover every road. Intervale Road and stretches of Baptist Road could really use some help. Contact me with your favorite stretch of road, and I’ll let you know if it’s someplace you can count on finding a boatload (or a blue bag load) of trash.

Thanks for helping keep this a Canterbury tradition.

~ Patrice Rasche

mattieandriley@yahoo.com