Responding to Andover’s first Earth Day Roadside Clean-up, 27 individual and team efforts, involving 72 participants in all, signed up to clear the town’s highways and byways of accumulated trash during a five-day effort between April 22 and 26 (which included Earth Day itself, April 25).

Organized by the husband-and-wife team of Ty and Samantha Morris, and supported by The Andover Community Hub and the Andover Conservation Commission, the project provided participants with plastic bags and rubber gloves at four locations around town. Of the 200 bags originally provided, only 45 were left at the end of the cleanup.

About the volunteers’ efforts, Ty and Sam responded: “Overall, we were pleasantly surprised at how many participants signed up. It looks like there’s a lot of interest and willingness in the community to work together on environmental matters. If Andover residents have suggestions for addressing further local environmental issues, efforts, please e-mail us at TheAndoverHub@nullgmail.org.”

Roadside clean-up in Andover is scheduled to continue in May, with the town’s tenth annual Town Clean-Up, a joint effort of the Conservation Commission, The Hub, and the Town of Andover.