Not only is this unsightly, but these piles of trash are going to waste when they could, in most cases, be recycled and reused. Helping to clean them up is one of the easiest ways we can all contribute to improving the environment.

Many states have "Adopt A Highway" programs along major routes, where individuals, businesses or organizations take a section and commit to regular clean up sweeps. This leaves back roads and other places uncared for. This is where you can help. A couple of hours a month, and you can remove waste trash from the side of the road, and maybe even make some money from the cleanup and recycling of some of the trash. Aluminum cans and other metals can be taken to a scrap yard. Scrap yards pay for reusable items depending on the amount and type of metals brought in.

One of the best ways to help clean up is to volunteer for a river cleanup. Whenever it rains, small bits of trash, paper and styrofoam cups, bottles and plastics from packaging all get washed into streams and rivers. Not to mention that still in this day and age, some people will toss old tires and even appliances off the sides of the roads next to rivers. These tires and appliances are prime materials for recycling.In floods this trash gets washed downstream.

An individual or small group of people can spend just a few hours of cleanup and make a real difference in the look and health of any riverside ecosystem. We can all contribute by recycling waste materials that would otherwise end up in landfills be they official ones, or the unsightly impromptu landfills that sometimes sprout up alongside back roads.