Clean up organizer Josh Maguire, right, along with his late brother, Jake, collected over 50 tires, 17 trash bags of garbage, mattresses, and box springs along the railroad track in Exeter. All told, over 2,000 lbs. of trash was hauled away.
Submitted Photo
Exeter Councilman Dave Balent utilized his personal backhoe to remove debris from the cleanup along the railroad track in Exeter Borough, organized by Josh McGuire.
Submitted Photo
Exeter debris pick-up organizer Josh Maguire gives the thumbs up when over 50 tires were retrieved during the cleanup. Kost Tire, Exeter, accepted the tires for recycling.
Submitted Photo
EXETER — Josh Maguire did not grow up in Greater Pittston, but when looking for a job, he found one at Diamond Manufacturing Co. in West Wyoming, which was a short walk from his Exeter home along the abandoned DL&W railroad tracks.
Maguire, 24, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, was happy to have found a job after college, and he was thrilled it was within walking distance of his home, but what surprised him was the amount of trash lining his route.
He knew he wanted to do something about it, so he approached Exeter Borough Council with the idea of cleaning up the tracks, hoping to generate interest from the municipality.
“I walked the tracks every day to work, and I was just stunned at what I had seen,” Maguire said. “I’ve never been to this area before, and it’s beautiful, so it was heartbreaking to see where I live there was so much trash.”
Maguire said he was told that a homeless encampment was cleared from that same area just a year ago.
Councilman Dave Balent, a contractor owning heavy equipment, stepped forward to help Maguire clean up 1,200 feet of tracks.
Balent said he commended Maguire for creating the initiative in doing the clean-up.
Also helping Maguire and Balent with the project on May 16 were Vanessa and Burton Smith, along with family members from Maryland, Jake, Reet, and Jim Maguire. Sadly, Maguire’s brother, Jake, passed away soon after the project.
During the one-day project, they removed over 50 tires, 17 large bags of trash, three mattresses, and one box spring, totaling approximately 2,000 pounds.
Kost Tires of Exeter stepped up and accepted the old tires for recycling, and ARX Communities for hosting the staging area.
Councilman Balent volunteered his excavator and dump truck as well as his time for the day.
“I would like to do another clean-up,” Maguire said. “We definitely didn’t get everything the first time around, but we got the bulk of it. A huge thanks to Mr. Balent for bringing his heavy equipment to give a hand. We were hoping for more volunteers, but we did turn the project around in just two weeks.”
