The Andalusia Area Chamber of Commerce is looking for groups with whom to partner as it puts together a Clean Up Covington County campaign.

Executive Director Chrissie Duffy said events are being planned in conjunction with Earth Day for the week of April 22-26.

“We’ll be kicking off that week with an Andalusia Clean and Green campaign,” she said. “We’ll be talking about litter, reducing the amount of trash and waste we have in general, and recycling.”

The week will end with a clean-up day on Fri., April 26, when the Chamber will work with Frank Shaffer of EMA, Covington Area Transportation (CATS), and ALDOT to put teams out picking up trash.

As in the past, one of the areas to be cleaned up will be Hwy. 84 between Andalusia and Opp, and the chambers of commerce in each city will attempt to get the whole area cleaned. They also will work on the areas near Welcome to Covington County signage.

As part of the campaign, the Chamber also will disseminate information about recycling and what can actually go into the City of Andalusia’s green recycling bags.

“We’ve had a number of conversations with people who are not 100 percent clear on what they should do,” she said. “So we want to do an awareness campaign about what you can put in the bag and what you cannot. It takes time and effort to filter the non-recyclables out.”

More importantly, she said, humans have to reduce the amount of waste produced.

“We will also focus on the re-use aspect,” she said. “Like reusable grocer bags and drink containers. Hopefully, we will encourage people to start trying to reduce the waste they produce.”

For instance, grocery bags cannot be recycled through the city’s program, and they are not easily broken down in landfills. They can be recycled by being dropped off at Walmart’s collection point.

“We’d like to find someone to partner with us to provide some reusable shopping bags,” she said. “We plan to have kits available that will help all of us take better care of the environment.”

One big problem in local areas is trash flying out of the back of pickups.

“People who would not throw trash out leave it in their pickup trucks and it gets blown out,” she said. “If we could raise awareness and stop that, it would be huge for us.

Anyone who would like to partner with the chamber, or organize a team to pick up litter should contact the chamber at  222-2030.