Teams of Newport News Shipbuilding employees spent Tuesday afternoon cleaning up areas around the shipyard and the Huntington Park beachfront in honor of Earth Day.

A total of 129 volunteers collected over 900 pounds of trash during the annual event.

Jay Nash (X36), who was among the shipbuilders who participated in the cleanup, said he hopes to get more people from his department involved. “You’ve got to lead by example to get the message across,” he said as he picked up discarded cigarette butts and other trash along Huntington Avenue.

An added bonus was missing the peak of rush hour during the cleanup. “I live in North Carolina, and I usually sit in traffic for an hour and a half,” said Nash, a veteran who has worked at NNS for 20 years. “Why not do something productive instead of sitting at the Monitor-Merrimac?”

Duonjahnae Martin, an apprentice on a special rotation in Environmental Health and Safety (O27), volunteered to place “no dumping” markers on storm drains inside the shipyard. The markers are meant to bring attention to the fact that the storm drains empty directly into the James River. They also include instructions to call 757-380-2222 to report spills.

“We’re making people aware of the storm drains so they won’t spill any toxic or hazardous things like trash or oil. The goal is to prevent pollution in the river,” said Martin, who was volunteering for the cleanup for the first time. “Earth Day should be every day. We shouldn’t specify just one day to take care of the Earth.”