‘Ditch’ the Trash Day event to be held Monday
‘Ditch’ the Trash Day Monday inspired by cleanups with grandmother
An Armada girl’s fond memories of picking up trash along the road in front of her home with her grandmother provided inspiration for her to establish “Ditch” the Trash Day on Monday.
Andrea Cox, 13, an eighth-grader at Armada Middle School, developed and marketed the effort for people to remove trash from ditches in front of their and their neighbors’ home and discard or recycle it.
The event with the catchy name was created as part of the Armada Global Impact Project, conducted the past few years by Andrea’s school. She has received recognition for her idea and her efforts to publicize it.
“I care about the environment,” Andrea said in an interview. “It shouldn’t go to waste. People should keep it clean and do things in life.”
When she was younger, she and her grandmother, Marilyn Harvey, would frequently pick up trash in the ditches near her family’s home along 34 Mile Road in Armada Township. Trash often accumulates in the ditches along the road because it is gravel and people seem to think it also should be a place to dump their waste, said Andrea’s mother, Amanda.
Andrea received acclaim in the form of a recent proclamation from the Macomb County Board of Commissioners and a certificate of achievement from Macomb County Green Schools.
“Andrea Cox is a primary example of the power of this engagement for our future generations and the continuous challenges we face in maintaining a more stable world,” the proclamation says.
It adds “Ditch” the Trash Day “will create a long-lasting impact for all participating residents and communities.”
In a notice on its web site, Ray Township notes the effort is “a way to help clear our ditches of unsightly trash that can cause improper drainage.”
“On this day during the week of Earth Day, she (Andrea) asks that people clean the ditches on their property or help a neighbor to clean theirs.”
Earth Day is Thursday but activities are planned throughout the week all over the world.
The Armada Global Impact Project is part of the middle school’s social studies program. Students start working on it in sixth grade by performing research and getting ideas and by early seventh grade settle on a topic and by the end of seventh grade have developed it, according to school officials. Eighth grade is the time for implementation.
Students work with a different social studies teacher each year: Mark Zarate in sixth grade, Thomas Austin in seventh-grade and Chad Finkbeiner in eighth-grade.
Finkbeiner said Andrea worked hard on the project. She sent emails to officials in many communities throughout the area in attempt to gain momentum.
“It’s really cool to see a project like Andrea’s take off,” Finkbeiner said. “It’s quite a rarity to get that much attention and recognition.”
“It gained steam through her own initiative,” said Todd Schafer, Armada Middle School principal.
“We were pretty shocked to see it take off like it did,” Amanda Cox said.
The Global Impact Project program began five years ago and has increasingly gained momentum, Finkbeiner said, adding students typically come to realize that while their topic is global, trying to make an impact requires a local effort.