Spring cleaning time has arrived, and members of the local PALS (People Against a Littered State) group say it’s not just for the inside of homes.

“We really stress the clean-up of roads and other areas this time of year, because the weather is nicer,” said Jan White, committee member for the Covington County chapter of PALS. “We do clean-up projects for streets and roadsides. We also help with Adopt-A-Mile, Adopt-A-Stream and Adopt-An-Area.”

White said PALS members are hoping more local residents will join in their efforts to clean up Covington County this year.

“It’s really easy,” she said. “We operate with the Andalusia Area Chamber of Commerce, and we have trash bags there. The state PALS groups send us rolls of trash bags people can pick up for free to help clean an area.”

White said the bags are also available at the Opp and Covington County Area Chamber of Commerce, adding it is not just church groups and other organizations that are encouraged to take part in the process.

“Anyone can do it,” she said. “Organizations or individuals, or anyone.”

White said cleanup is needed mostly along local roads and highways, but added people may use the bags to clean up any area they would like.

“Southside Baptist has the mile on either side of church, and the men’s brotherhood gets out there every third Saturday in every month and cleans that mile,” she said. “But you don’t have to do it on a schedule if you choose not to.”

White said there are currently several programs in the planning stages at both the city and county levels, but added there are small things people can do now to help with the effort.

“We want people to remember things like cans and papers in the back of pick-up trucks will blow out,” she said. “We just want to encourage everyone to do their part. If everyone would, it would make a huge difference.”

White said, for those county residents outside of a municipality that offers recycling programs, items may be brought to the Andalusia landfill during business hours and they will be recycled.

White said another huge part of the PALS mission is to educate younger people, before they get into the bad habit of littering.

“If we can educate the children not to throw it out of their vehicle, maybe as they drive with parents and they see a window roll down, they’ll say, ‘Mom’ or, ‘Dad, you can’t do that.’”

White said she feels a strong “spring cleaning” response from locals will make a marked improvement in Covington County – one everyone will see.

“People have to remember, when prospective businesses come to our county and they see that we don’t care about our roadsides, what impression does that make,” she said. “We have a beautiful creation God has given us. We need some roadside pride and we need to present ourselves in a way that doesn’t detract from that.”

For more information on how to get involved in local cleanup efforts, visit Alpals.org.