This year, the number to beat is 20 tons locally, and 200 tons statewide.
And the super hero to help us do it is Captain Green Up.
The task is greening up the state, specifically our neck of the woods here in Addison County. Last year more than 21,000 Vermonters in all 255 municipalities helped to pick up more than 200 tons of trash statewide for the 2015 Green Up Day. In Addison County, volunteers helped pick up more than 20 tons of trash, including 302 tires; 29 computers, CD players and televisions; 10 appliances; three propane cylinders and one oil filter, according to the Addison County Solid Waste Management District’s trash tally.
The goal this year? Well, let’s go, as Bernie says, Yuge! Let’s beat last year’s tonnage and increase the number of volunteers from every town. How? By following Captain Green Up’s example and making it fun, especially for the younger kids among us. Make it a challenge or a game; involve the neighborhood, and kids in your family; make it a block party with a pot lot at the end of the afternoon. At the very least check in with your town’s community gatherings, if they have them, and if not, volunteer to host one. 
And importantly, work with your town’s Green Up coordinator to clean up the worst sections of your town. That is, make it a special point not just to help clean up your section of a street (which is great if that’s all you can do), but, if you can, also help with the town center, town parks and main throughways.
For the past 46 years, Green Up is that one weekend of the year in which Vermonters dedicate a little bit of their time to beautify their home. It’s May 7 this year, and Mr. Green Up is showing us the can-do spirit that takes a chore and turns it into an adventure.
For inspiration, skim through the front-page story and find out what motivates Captain Green Up and his students to do great things year after year, and then refer to what your town is doing for its Green Up activities in our town-by-town wrap-up inside Monday’s paper.
Then plan your party, and points of attack road-by-road. Pick up as much as you can for two reasons:
• It’s a day once a year to give back to your community by making the streets you drive each day more attractive.
• By getting involved, you’ll help create an ethic in your town that places a high value on community —its appearance, its sense of camaraderie, and a sense of how it perceives and defines the quality of life in your town. That sense is as important for the youth of every community to understand, as it is for current community leaders.
In the meantime, let’s all pitch in and shoot for a goal that would fit the definition of YUGE!
— Angelo S. Lynn