The rainy weather on clean-up day couldn’t dampen the spirits of the nearly 100 volunteers from the cities of Euclid and Collinwood that joined together Saturday, April 22nd for the 2023 Big Clean. This year’s version of the yearly competition between our two lakefront cities to see which community can pick up the most trash was extra special with the event date falling on Earth Day.

In total, Big Clean Volunteers picked up 202 bags of trash, 4 discarded lawn chairs, 2 abandoned steel drum containers and 35 dumped tires. These items and more were removed from streets, sewers, tree lawns, alleys, parking lots, beaches and parks around the area.

“It helps all of us out because it makes the neighborhood look nice,” said Big Clean Volunteer and lifelong Euclid resident Chris Grad. “It makes the city look nice, and it all snowballs from there.”

Due to the weather, volunteers were given two options for participation: they could toss on some rain gear and complete the clean-up as planned, or they could pick up supplies at the Earth Day Celebration and Resource Fair held at C. E Orr Ice Arena and pick up trash in their selected location on a drier day. Participants in the resource fair included Tilth Soil / Rust Belt Riders, Meadow City Nursery, Euclid Shade Tree Commission, Cuyahoga County Department of Sustainability, Cleveland Water Department, Euclid Public Library, Lakeshore Garden Club, Memorial Park Community Garden, Friends of Euclid Creek and the Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District.

Bag totals are still trailing in as volunteers complete their clean-ups, but it looks like this year Euclid is the winner of this friendly competition, collecting a larger number of bags and ending a two-year streak for Collinwood. While the Big Clean is a competition every year it’s all of us who win! Residents of both cities can celebrate Earth Day by enjoying cleaner streets, cleaner parks and a cleaner environment.

“Euclid and Collinwood residents take a lot of pride in their community and show up no matter what the weather,” said Keep Euclid Beautiful Chair Linda Beck, one of the four organizers of this year’s event. “That is 202 bags of litter that we kept from going down our storm drains and into Lake Erie. What a fantastic effort by everyone”.

If you missed The Big Clean and would still like to volunteer to clean up your community, please contact Keep Euclid Beautiful Chair Linda Beck at keepeuclidbeautiful@cityofeuclid.com or 216-289-2786. Future opportunities for clean-ups are coming soon!