25,000 Vermonters Clean 95% of State Roads in One Day

Vermont just proved that thousands of neighbors working together can clean an entire state in a single morning.

This past Saturday, more than 25,000 volunteers fanned out across Vermont for the annual Green Up Day, picking up litter from 95% of all roads in the state. The tradition, which started in 1970, has become a beloved ritual where Vermonters spend the first Saturday of May cleaning roadways and natural spaces.

The numbers tell an incredible story. Volunteers collected 427,000 tons of trash this year, with town coordinators helping distribute supplies and organize efforts in every corner of the state.

Rebecca Trombley coordinates Green Up Day in Starksboro. She says the hardest part of her job is tracking all the participants because so many "stealth volunteers" quietly pick up trash without reporting their work.

"Vermonters take a lot of pride in our state," Trombley said. "We value our natural landscape. Year after year, I have faithful volunteers tending to their stretch of road, and every year new folks join in."

For Ripton resident Chad Chamberlain, Green Up Day is about simple community care. "You drive on the roads every day, and you see the trash, and you think somebody should be picking that up, so why not me?"

At Middlebury College, students turned the cleanup into a friendly competition. The Student Government Association's Environmental Sustainability Committee organized teams of four to ten students who competed to collect the most trash.

Lily Jensen and her team won the competition. "It was really great to get outside in the morning at a time where people were really overwhelmed with work," Jensen said. She loved assembling an eclectic crew of friends for the spontaneous adventure.

Even students not in the official competition found ways to help. The Sunday Night Environmental Group hosted a hiking cleanup at Chipman Hill, combining nature time with community service.

The Ripple Effect

Green Up Day shows what's possible when an entire state decides to care for shared spaces together. The tradition has strengthened over 55 years, with participation growing annually as new volunteers join longtime regulars.

The event works because of simple logistics: town coordinators distribute trash bags, residents sign up for road sections at town halls, and everyone knows exactly where to drop off collected garbage. This organized approach ensures no stretch of road gets missed.

The impact goes beyond clean roadsides. Young people like Jeremy Buss, who led the Chipman Hill hike, see the value in "being in a community together, being with nature, and removing trash."

Vermont's example offers a blueprint for other states: pick a day, organize locally, make it easy to participate, and celebrate the tradition year after year. When communities make environmental care a shared ritual, thousands show up without being forced.

Next year's Green Up Day will happen again on the first Saturday of May, and coordinators expect even more volunteers to join the growing tradition.