Mattapoisett takes out the trash

May 22, 2021

MATTAPOISETT — Coffee cups, light fixtures and tires litter the roads in Mattapoisett — or at least they used to.

Mattapoisett Cub Scout Pack 53, Mattapoisett Boy Scout Troop 53, the Mattapoisett Woman’s Club, the Mattapoisett Land Trust, the Mattapoisett Tree Committee, the Old Rochester Community Service-Learning Club and the Old Rochester Environmental Club jointly hosted a community cleanup on May 22, where organization and community members alike helped tidy up the town.

“It was excellent to see all these folks come out and help us,” Pack 53 Cub Master Frances Kearns said.

Participants in the cleanup met at Dunseith Gardens under Salty the Seahorse, and volunteered to clean litter off the roads in town. Among the most popular were Acushnet Road, Brandt Island Road, Mattapoisett Neck Road and Crystal Springs Road — all of which were on a shortlist of roads in town that needed the most work.

Among the garbage collected from roads in town were two tires — one on Brandt Island Rd. and one on Crystal Springs Rd.

The OR Community Service-Learning Club found the one on Crystal Springs Road, and as they were instructed before heading out to start cleaning up, texted Kearnes to let her know they found a big piece of trash.

Boy Scout Troop 53, on the other hand, decided to roll the tire they found in the trees off Brandt Island Road all the way back to the car.

Tires aside, the scouts found no shortage of trash on Brandt Island Roa.

“We’ve walked down this whole path and we have not stopped picking up trash,” scout Christopher Bell said.

The troop found the tire, a light fixture, and “a lot of Dunkin’ Donuts,” Bell said.

When the groups returned to Dunseith Gardens, they loaded up a dumpster brought by the Mattapoisett Highway Department.

“It was good to get out with my own kids,” Kearns said. “We’ve been inside a little too much, I think.”