Green Team of Palos Heights plans Clean Up Day

The Green Team of Palos Heights is planning a Clean Up Day on Saturday, April 13. 

By Kelly White

The Green Team of Palos Heights does just what its name implies and works hard to keep the city green and beautiful.

“The mission of the Green Team is basically to raise awareness and educate the community about environmental efforts that protect and restore the environment in our community, recognizing that sharing knowledge and working together on this is all of our responsibility,” Pat Stifter, of Palos Heights, and Green Team volunteer, said.

The Green Team has been active for nearly two years, kicking off originally when then the pandemic began. It geared up again in early 2022 and has been successful ever since.

The group meets once a month where members review upcoming Green Team events and discuss new projects.

“I think the Green Team has been quite accomplished over the last two years,” Stifter said.

Every month, the Green Team publishes a Green Note, which is a short fact sheet that raises awareness about a variety of environmental issues that are relevant to residents, such as home energy use, winter salt reduction, wastewater runoff, growing pollinators and composting.

They are published in the Palos Heights e-newsletter “Come Alive” and posted on various social media platforms that reach members of the community, like Lake Katherine Nature Center’s website and the Palos Heights Facebook page.

Aside from that, the team stays very active within the Palos Heights Community.

The Green Team had a busy 2023 with hopes to continue the same programs in 2024.  The Green Team organized Palos Heights’s first Christmas Tree drop-off at Lake Katherine where discarded trees from the holiday could be dropped off, mulched and then repurposed.

The Pumpkin Smash held at Lake Katherine in early November was a smashing success thanks to the Green Team, where the community was invited to bring their Halloween pumpkins and smash them before adding them to a compost heap.

There was also a shredding day and pill drop-off day (co-sponsored with the City, the Palos Heights Public Library and Lake Katherine), an Arbor Day tree program that was in part supported by the Green Team and Palos Heights Beautification Committee and, of course, last year the Green Team organized the Palos Heights Clean Up day (with lots of help and community sponsorship from the Palos Heights Public Works Department and the Palos Heights Police Department).

New this year, and will be announced through Green Notes, the Green Team is partnering with Lake Katherine and kicking off a new composting program for Palos Heights.

“As you can see from above, this is a collaborative project,” Stifter said. “Working together as a community to support a cleaner and healthier local living environment as well as educating that we all are responsible for the well-being of the planet.”

The Green Team’s 2024 Clean Up Day is scheduled in April in conjunction with Earth Day.

“This event invites everyone in our community to do their part in combating pollution by having a fun morning collecting discarded debris and cleaning up Palos Heights,” Stifter said. “We hope to have a large turnout. Last year we had a beautiful day. I was able to enjoy being outside at the same time I was being astonished by the wide variety of debris that people just discarded along the bike trail and I liked that we started with empty bags and had no trouble filling them at the end of the two hours. I felt like I made a difference.”

The event is scheduled for Saturday, April 13.

Anyone can volunteer to help clean up the city. There is no prior registration and all interested volunteers can meet at Palos Heights City Hall at 9:30 a.m. for registration and to pick up bags, gloves, reflective vests and garbage pick-up tools.

Volunteers will then be assigned to a designated area in Palos Heights to collect paper, plastic, hubcaps and more.

Last year’s focus was along Route 83 east of Harlem, the Cal Sag bike trail east of Harlem to Ridgeland and 127th Street and Harlem.