PA CleanWays of Venango County, an affiliate of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, was formed in 1996 with support from the Venango County Regional Planning Commission. The affiliate focuses on cleanups of illegal dumps, special collection events for disposal of hard to recycle items, and educating the public on the detriments of illegal dumping and littering. Since our inception through the end of 2009, PA CleanWays of Venango County has removed and properly disposed 77.82 tons of trash from our natural areas. We collected and recycled over 3,100 tires at our most recent special collection event!

The Venango County Affiliate has an extensive network of volunteers, in addition to working with local conservation groups. Since 2005, our volunteers have donated almost 500 hours to help make Venango County a better place to live, work, and play. Volunteers can also 'adopt' sites, which includes monitoring and disposing of any additional trash that accumulates at a cleaned dumpsite. There is currently one adopted site in Venango County.

Unfortunately, illegal dumping continues to be a problem in the county. The Venango County Illegal Dump Survey was completed by Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful in 2008 to identify illegal dumpsites within the county. The survey results show that Venango County has 174 illegal dumpsites that total 386 tons of trash. With funding from the Forest Lands Beautification Program, several illegal dumpsites on the survey were eradicated from Oil Creek State Park. The sites were formerly a part of the oil industry boom in the 1800s, but are now restored to their natural state and safer for park visitors.

Please check our Calendar of Events for upcoming cleanups. If you would like to become a volunteer for the affiliate, please contact Erik Johnson, Affiliate Coordinator, at 814-432-9684 or by e-mail.