I’ll bet you don’t know what gleaning is

You may not know what gleaning is, but you’ll want to participate in Maine gleaning day, just one of the many interesting and exciting projects in the new  fall edition of the Sustainable Maine quarterly newsletter, a project of the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

In the newsletter, which you can access here, you’ll read about the state’s effort to nip nips, and a foam and bagging initiative in Belfast. I was very impressed with the report on a group of 30 stakeholders working to reduce food waste.

And wait until you see and read about the Sidewalk Butler, which picks up those annoying cigarette butts. These filters are composed of tiny plastic fibers and do not biodegrade. Additionally, butts contain hundreds of toxic chemicals that studies have shown to be toxic to aquatic creatures even in very low dosages. Mainer Mike Roylos invented the Sidewalk Butler, which has taken the world by storm.

And you will most certainly want to participate in Maine Gleaning Day, scheduled for October 14.

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.