The numbers are still coming in but this year’s Great American Cleanup has been declared a success, according to the man behind the organization of the Saturday event.

“I am just so pleased with all the people who came on board from the trustees to every participant,” said Dan Palmer, director of the Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste District.

The district was the organizer of the morning-long cleanup that had volunteers throughout the county picking up trash, weeding, planting flowers and pruning.

This year seven of the 14 townships participated bringing in a total of 384 tons of garbage from 64 roll offs. By township that breaks up to Union filling 20 roll offs for 120 tons; Perry filling three roll offs and a dump truck; Rome with 25 roll offs for 150 tons; Fayette with six roll offs; Lawrence with four roll offs and Elizabeth with three roll offs.

“This is what I say to the trustees if we weren’t providing this where would all this stuff go,” Palmer said. “I applaud all the seven townships who provided this service.”

This was the fifth year for the cleanup that started out with drenching rains early Saturday. However, as the skies cleared, the volunteers starting to bloom around the county.

Workers with the Proctorville-Chesapeake-based TLC cleaned up eight miles of State Route 7 with 28 volunteers collecting 70 bags of trash. South Point schools had two busloads of students cleaning up around the schools and the village. Six churches on Greasy Ridge had 85 volunteers cleaning up 24 miles of roadway collecting 114 bags.

The Concerned Citizens of Burlington had 21 volunteers collecting 60 bags in their neighborhood.

“That is remarkable that through this weather you had such turnouts,” Palmer said. “The results I am just utterly amazed. Considering the weather we had that day what would a lot of people have done but gone home. This shows people’s support.”

Besides students from Ironton Catholic and public schools working in downtown Ironton, the community service workers of Ironton Municipal Court Judge O. Clark Collins cleaned up the exits by Ironton and Coal Grove.

“I agree with what the judge said that we need to educate and with that we instill pride,” Palmer said. “We have something going here that I think is an envy for our neighboring county.”