Cigarette butts, snack wrappers, fast food containers and plastic bottles are just some of the items you might find littered in your neighborhood. City staff, businesses, Ruritan Clubs and many other organizations pick up a large amount of it.

But now, a new partnership between Suffolk Public Library and Keep Suffolk Beautiful means that anyone can borrow litter equipment with their library card and do their own cleanup.

This new program is part of Keep Suffolk Beautiful’s Teamup 2 Cleanup Campaign, enabling people across the city to get involved in the fight against litter. A library cardholder can borrow four litter grabbers, safety vests and bags to make cleaning up easier and cost free. Disposing of the bags of litter is easy, too. The Litter Control Division is available to coordinate collection of bags.

“Having equipment at all three library locations makes it so much easier for people to get cleanup supplies whenever they want,” said Wayne Jones, litter control coordinator. “We hope parents use cleanups as a lesson to show their children the importance of community involvement and the effects of littering on the environment.”

The person borrowing the equipment must be an adult and must agree to be responsible for the safety of the people participating in their cleanup and returning the equipment.

“Being able to offer litter cleanup equipment at the library is such an interesting opportunity to engage the Suffolk community and support a wonderful cause,” said Karen Nelson, collection strategy supervisor for Suffolk Public Library. “Having the equipment available to borrow has inspired library staff members to get out and clean up Suffolk, and we hope it will inspire our library customers as well.”

The program was awarded a $1,000 grant from Keep Virginia Beautiful during its annual “30 Grants in Thirty Days” campaign during the month of June. Government, nonprofit, civic and service organizations in Virginia were invited to apply for grants of $500 to $1,000 describing how they would plan to tackle an environmental concern in their community in the areas of litter prevention, recycling, cigarette litter prevention or community beautification. Since 2011, Keep Virginia Beautiful has provided more than $178,000 to fund 230 environmental projects and programs across the state.

For more information about the program, contact Wayne Jones, litter control coordinator, at littercontrol@suffolkva.us or 514-7604, or Karen Nelson, collection strategy supervisor for Suffolk Public Library, at knelson@suffolkva.us or 514-7303.