‘Clean Green’ team making a difference

The members of the Clean Green Hannibal Team display the trash picked up during a recent clean up even. They are also facing away from the camera in order to show the highly visible T-shits they wear while working on behalf of a cleaner community. Photo contributed by Barbara O’Brien.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

The Clean Green Hannibal Team began as a gathering of friends in the spring of 2025, with a simple premise:

To encourage people - by example - to pick up trash, instead littering.

Dena Ellis, co-organizer with Barbara O’Brien, explains how the program started.

“Barb would take a walk every night and call me while she was walking, complaining about the trash.”

Dena soon joined her friend Barb on these nightly walks, and the two started picking up litter along the way.

They liked how it felt. Rather than complaining, they were doing something positive to resolve the situation.

They decided to invite more friends to join them, and soon, they could see the difference that a few hands working together could make in the overall appearance of the community.

Since then, “it has really grown leaps and bounds,” Barb said.

They established an official Facebook page, which helped spread the word. What started as a group of friends, has grown into a community-wide betterment organization.

Today, their membership stands at 36 volunteers. Most are retired, but certainly not all.

Each week, Barb and Dena ride around town, looking for areas that need attention. They will post a time and a location on their Facebook page, and whoever is available to help, shows up. 

“Usually we have 8-10 that can show up. Some are younger and still work, but most of us are retired,” Dena said.

“What we pick up is trash,” Barb said. “The little $1 liquor bottles. We find those everywhere. Cans, empty beer cans, Walmart bags, cigarette packages.”

The riverfront is a particular cleanup target area.

Dena said, “The parking lot where people park their boats; we hit that just about weekly, Barb and I.” Yet, “My husband and I drove through there Sunday night and it is a complete disaster. There is a lot of foot traffic at night. People take” their fast food “down there and just sling their trash out,” despite the fact that there are accessible trash receptacles nearby,  “they just throw it on the ground.”

On the riverfront, “I watched this young girl clean out her car. She kept looking at us,” so Dena finally left the area. She came back a little later, and the girl had just thrown all her trash out onto the parking lot. “She was waiting for us to leave to throw her trash out.

“It’s hard to be in their mind frame. We don’t understand, that’s for sure.”

Early projects

Warren Barrett Drive was one of the early locations that the team focused on. “The first time, that trash had been there forever,” Dena said. “If we see it start building it up, we hit it again.”

Once they visit an area, they post signs noting: The “Clean Green Hannibal Team was here,”. They leave those signs in place for two days.

Those gathering trash take appropriate safety precautions: Trash grabbers, gloves. “We do find needles,” Dena said, “we have Sharps containers we put those in.

“Ang Brown came up with the initial logo on our sign,” Dena said, and Bill Martin came up with the name for the team and a T-shirt design.”

While picking up trash if fulfilling, it is also hard work.

“I don’t think people really realize how laborious it can be,” Barb said.

And, “after being on this team, you start noticing the trash everywhere, and it starts to bug you,” Dena said.

Education

Another component of the clean up campaign is education.

“We went to one of the schools toward the end  the year,” Barb said. “We took the different colored trash bags, took our grabbers,” and let the students put items into the appropriate colored bags.

They left little buttons for the students, “I’m a litter hero.”

“We played trash bingo,” Dena said. “We hope to do a lot more next year.”

Limitations

“If it is super hot, we don’t do it. Last year July and August were brutal, and when it gets super cold, we can’t do it,” Dena said.

Regardless of the weather, the group has consistently picked up trash once a week since February. 

The city has taken note of what the “Clean Green Hannibal Team” has been accomplishing.

To recognize their accomplishments, Hannibal Mayor Darrell McCoy had a proclamation made up for the group, and awarded it at a council meeting.

“Andy Dorian (Hannibal’s city manager) has been very supportive,” Barb said. The city supplies trash bags. “We email them and tell where the filled bags will be.”

In addition, the city is “good at cleaning up things we see that are beyond our ability,” Barb said.

‘Best curb appeal’

In addition to cleaning up portions of town, the Clean Green Hannibal Team has also started an incentive program, rewarding residents for “best curb appeal.”

“We pick a house once a week and post it on our Facebook page. That goes along with our philosophy. If somebody is taking care of their property, it is good for everybody. We hope it will rub off on someone else.

“We’re trying to get all over town,” Dena said. “On Fulton Avenue, there is an adorable little doll house. No matter where you live, you can have a great looking little house.”

At left, Mayor Darrell McCoy presents a proclamation to the leadership and volunteers with the Clean Green Hannibal Team on behalf of their efforts to clean up litter around Hannibal. Photo contributed by Barbara O’Brien.

During a recent visit to a Hannibal school, volunteers with the Clean Green Hannibal Team distributed these keepsake pins to classroom students. Photo contributed by Barbara O’Brien.