TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL (2010) EAST AMWELL TOWNSHIP
ROADSIDE CLEANUP DAY
On Saturday, April 17th, approximately 85 volunteers joined in de-littering roughly 95% of the Township’s 56 miles of roads, as well as sections of Wertsville Road (Co. Rte. 602), Rileyville Road (Co. Rte. 607), a piece of Sergeantsville Road (Co. Rte. 604), the Amwell Lake Parking Area and the down ramp from US Rte. 31/202 to Wertsville Road.
The volume of material collected was about equal to that picked up in recent years, and so we may have a reached a dubious sort of "sustainable plateau". The final tally follows:
· 2.5 cubic yards of recyclable material, including aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and green, brown and clear glass;
- 3.0 cubic yards of general trash consisting of assorted “junque” and miscellaneous debris. Of particular note:
- a broken Koho-brand goal tender's hockey stick
- bits and pieces of a rheostat
- six metal barrel hoops/bands
- a 3'x2' bath mat in an interesting shade of.......gray
- a 14' length of one inch-diameter electrical conduit
- a dreidel (or dradle or dreydl, depending on your preference)
- a full bottle of Mennen Quinsana Athletes Foot Penetrating Foam
- a rusted railway-type padlock
- a New Jersey Devils license plate surround
- an Aiwa-brand CD player
- a pair of South Pole-brand sneakers, size 9
- most of two broken fishing poles
- a submersible live-bait bucket
- nine car, truck and tractor tires, including one rim,
- a four inch-diameter lump of coal,
- a pair of manicure scissors,
- an intact 15 watt light bulb,
- a package of Ronson-brand lighter flints,
- a Peruvian Sol de Oro,
- three packages of Thunder Bomb-brand, half-inch long firecrackers (made in Kwangtung, China),
- a petrified loaf of home-made bread,
- a hunting arrow head,
- a mousetrap (sans mouse),
- a coaxial cable connector,
- an ATV front axle assembly (including the wheels),
- three car and truck mufflers,
- a right hand, side-view mirror (car species unknown),
- three, kg-size brown jars of Fisher Scientific -brand chemicals, one appeared to be copper sulphate and the other two possibly Boric Acid (based on similar finds from previous years),
- the better part of a conch shell,
- a discrete pile of 39, 1.5-inch slot-head wood screws,
- a candle stub,
- in different parts of the Township, a UK-labeled garter belt, size 25/6 in a vivid shade of red, and a French-labeled, diaphanous black "widow maker", size 38B,
- a rusty jackknife with a broken blade, "souvenir of Niagara Falls",
- a broken pick-axe or sledge hammer handle,
- much of a real "flivver", pulled from a stream on The Mountain, including two wire-spoke wheels with really heavy cast rims, and a 12"x12"x2" thick radiator,
- three baseballs, a softball, a soccer ball and four golf balls,
- four Subaru, Chevrolet and Range Rover hub caps /wheel covers,
- two, six-foot lengths of braided one inch diameter cable with working turnbuckles, fitted with what appeared to be shock absorbers. Might have been guy wires for a telecom or power line assembly,
- about 25% of a metal Hunterdon County branch library sign,
- most of a Stevens #24 level; and
- from the bleached skull of an eight-point buck, held high for all to see, fell a balled, 10 inch-long garter snake!
Once again, beer cans and bottles were, by far, the most popular discardable. Following five consecutive yearly losses to Coors, Bud was found to be the top discarded beer container in 2010, for the 17th time in 23 years. Miller was the second place finisher (a first for the Township). Coors was also strongly represented, as was Rolling Rock. As an aside, it was quite clear that different areas of the Township evinced different preferences: Bud thoroughly thrashed the competition in several sections of the Township, while two areas favored Coors and one area was awash with empty......water bottles.
Beer brands collected township-wide included: Budweiser, Miller and Coors in all their permutations and combinations, including Bud Light Golden Wheat. We also picked up cans and bottles of Natural Ice, Rolling Rock, Busch, Yuengling, O’Doul’s, Buckler, Meisterbrau, Genessee Cream Ale, Killian’s Irish Red, Michelob, Keystone Light, Old Milwaukee, Pabst, Milwaukee’s Best, Olympia, St. Pauli Girl, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Ballantyne’s and multiple variants of Sam Adams.
Imported beers were once again very, very well represented. We collected bottles and cans of Hoegaarden, Heineken, Beck’s, Foster’s, Molson, Labatt’s, Corona, Amstel Light, Modelo, Carling Black Label, Red Stripe Jamaican Lager, Tecate, Bass, Stella Artois, Sapporo, Guinness, New Castle Brown Ale, Dos Equis, Pilsner Urquell and Grolsch.
Three unopened bottles of Smirnoff Ice Malt Beverage were collected, as was a single, spent bottle of Monster Hitman Energy Shooter....
Among soft drinks and the like, we noted pretty well every conceivable variant of Coke and Pepsi, as well as multiple flavors of Snapple. We collected bottles and cans of A&W Root Beer, Rock Star Energy Drink, Tropicana, Boost Hi-Protein Drink, Nestle’s Juicy Juice, Fresca, Very Fine, Sprite, Full Throttle Energy Drink, Brisk Iced Tea, Weight Watchers, Lipton Iced Tea, Capri Tropical Fruit Drink, Redline Energy Drink, RC Cola, Diet Rite, Boylan Root Beer, Mountain Dew, Fusion, PowerAde, Quik, Dunkin Donuts Iced Latte, Muscle Milk, Wawa Iced Tea, Fanta, Welch’s, Mott’s, Mug Root Beer, Ocean Spray, Redline Ultimate, Red Bull Energy Drink, Barq’s, Arizona Iced Tea (in a full panoply of shades and flavors), Vintage Seltzer, V8, Schweppes, Yoo-Hoo, Hydroxycut Advanced, Dr. Pepper, Slim Fast, Mountain Lightning and Dr. Thunder (Sam’s Choice), Sunny D, Energy Rush, Stewart’s, Turkey Hill Lemon Iced Tea, Canada Dry, Gatorade, Sunkist, SoBe, 7 Up, ShopRite, America’s Choice, Nesquik, Minute Maid, Orangina, Nestea, Mott’s Apple/Raspberry Juice, Hawaiian Punch, Monster Energy Drink, Fuze and Hires Root Beer.
A verifiable crush of empty water bottles was collected. As in years past, this is easily the single largest category of “discardable” after beer bottles and cans. Bottles of Crystal Springs, Smart Water, Glaceau Vitamin Water, Kirkland Signature Spring Water, Vitamin Water, Poland Spring, Deer Park, Isopure, Aquafina, Arizona Spring Water, Evian, Nestle Pure Life, Fiji, Spring Water Beverage, Propel Fitness Water, Dasani, Dannon, Naya and San Pelegrino were picked up across the Township.
Among “hard” liquors, vodka was again dominant: Gordon’s (again tops), Ketel One, Crystal Palace, Boodles, Smirnoff in a range of flavors, Laird’s, Nikoff, Stolichnaya, Wolfschmidt, Leeds, Popov, Skyy, Majorska, Absolut and Gilbey’s were accounted for. By and large, vodka bottles were pint or quart-sized, although three, half-gallon bottles were collected. And, we picked up......a single bottle of Swedka Clementine-Flavored vodka (Distilled Five Times).
Among liquors, cordials and variants, we collected Dubonnet, Bacardi (in a wealth of flavors), Fleishman’s Whiskey, Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, J & B Scotch, Seagram’s 7 Crown, Seagram’s VO, Joe's Classic Lemonade, The Original Twisted Tea (5% alcohol), Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Bacardi, Malibu Rum, Gordon’s Gin, Canadian Club and Windsor Canadian Rye Whiskey.
A flood of “airline” size single serving bottles of liquor was noted: Smirnoff vodka was by far the most popular discardable, but we also picked up Jack Daniels, Seagram’s VO, Jim Beam, Patron Silver Tequila and Absolut vodka.
Few empty wine bottles were collected this year: Mad Dogs (a Spanish Cabernet /Shiraz blend), Glen Ellen Chardonnay (a perennial favorite), Alice White, Sutter Home Chardonnay, Yellow Tail and, a lone jug of Gallo . . .
In addition to numerous large water and liquid soap bottles, we collected containers of Cream-O-Land and Lehigh Valley milk, various brands of windshield washer fluids, Prestone antifreeze, various motor oils, Clorox and the like. As in years past, the number and diversity of plastic containers points to their being escapees from recycling containers placed at curbside for pickup and lost to wind, snow, foraging animals and handling mishaps
This year’s “Left of Mainstream” award went to the individual who collected a single bottle of Dale's Pale Ale, the pride of the Oskar Blues Brewery of Longmont, Colorado.
