PA CleanWays of Bedford County, a chapter of PA CleanWays, was formed in 2000 with the support from the Bedford County Conservation District. The chapter focuses on cleanups of illegal dumps and educating the public on the detriments of illegal dumping and littering. Since our inception through the end of 2009, Bedford County has held 37 cleanups removing and properly disposing of 447.68 tons of trash as well as recycling almost 5,000 tires!

Working with local conservation groups, and companies such as REI, the Bedford County Chapter has an extensive network of volunteers. Since 2005, our volunteers have donated a total of 1,711 volunteer hours to help eliminate littering and illegal dumping in the county! Volunteers can also 'adopt' sites, which includes monitoring and disposing of any additional trash that accumulates at a cleaned dumpsite. There are a total of four adoptions in Bedford County.

Unfortunately, illegal dumping continues to be a problem in the county. The Bedford County Illegal Dump Survey was completed in 2008 by PA CleanWays to identify illegal dumpsites within the county. The survey located 128 illegal dumpsites totaling 869.75 tons of trash! Several large-scale cleanups of dumpsites identified in the survey have taken place in Bedford County. With cleanup funding provided by the Richard King Mellon Foundation, a dumpsite on Bowser Farm Road in Broad Top Township had 10.92 tons trash removed and properly disposed, and 6.76 tons tires and 11.89 tons scrap metal removed and recycled. Another site on Old US 30 in Napier Township had 147.77 tons trash removed and properly disposed, and 15 tons of tires and 1.67 tons scrap metal removed and recycled.

Bowser Farm Road Before		Bowser Farm Road After

Please check our Calendar of Events for upcoming cleanups. If you would like to become a volunteer for the chapter, please contact Guy Stottlemeyer, Chapter Coordinator, at 814-623-7900 ext. 123 or e-mail. If you would like to make a donation to PA CleanWays of Bedford County to help support chapter activities, please consider giving to the PA CleanWays Clean and Green Fund.