This Saturday the county and Ironton will be inundated with people in special T-shirts, carrying litter grabbers and plastic bags.

All of them will participate in the annual Lawrence County Cleanup Day starting at 9 a.m. and lasting until the last piece of trash is corralled.

This year there will be 644 volunteers of all ages at the event, one of the largest in its ninth year.

“This is very important when you see Keep America Beautiful start a program like the Great American Cleanup and it is established throughout our country,” said Dan Palmer, director of the Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste District, organizers of the event.

“When we see all these groups participating, it is volunteerism at its highest.”

The largest groups are Dawson-Bryant Elementary with 71 volunteers; Greasy Ridge churches with 100; Operation TLC with 40 and St. Joseph High School with 30.

“The Greasy Ridge churches take in 24 miles,” Palmer said. “They are Mt. Hope, Perkins Ridge, New Zion, Old Baptist and Pomeria.”

Seven townships will be part of the cleanup: Elizabeth, Fayette, Lawrence, Perry, Rome, Union and Upper.

“When you see the volume the townships take in, if we did not do this where would the trash go,” Palmer said. “Sixty-six rolloffs. That is amazing the tonnage we collect in one day.”

Bags of trash go to the landfill, tires go to Dalton’s in Ashland and scrap metal to a dealer in Huntington.

The Cleanup Day started in Ironton but was expanded to the county when Palmer took over.

Sponsors are Dow Chemical, Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Life Medical Response, Area Advertising and Keep America Beautiful that donated 300 litter grabbers, 4,000 trash bags, 1,200 gloves, 200 safety vests and 38 cases of bottled water.