HERMITAGE, Pa. (WKBN) — In honor of Earth Day, the city of Hermitage had multiple events going on around town.

Saturday’s Earth Day events in Hermitage kicked off with an Earth Day clean-up at 9 a.m. Despite the rain, volunteers were eager to help.

“We’ve been doing that all day, two hours straight of just … Garbage. You can tell it’s been there a couple days or a couple years, but now it’s in that truck over there,” said Harrison Barckart, a senior at Sharpsville High School.

Burkhart said he was shocked by how much trash they picked up.

“I did not expect this, I thought there would be a few pieces here and there, but you can stand in one place and just pick up trash for three hours,” he said.

Chrissy Wheaton, a freshman at Penn State Shenango, says she is happy to volunteer her time to help her community become a better place.

“I really think that as a human race, we can start doing better, especially as a community because this is my community,” Wheaton said.

“It really is important,” said Monica King, director of operations for Shenango River Watchers. “You know, over 100,000 people get their water from the Shenango River. And we want to make sure that we keep as much trash and pollution out of the river so that people downstream from us can continue to drink the water and not have any worries about it.”

Following the city’s clean-up, the Hermitage Earth Day Fest kicked off at noon at LindenPointe. They had tons of activities for kids and adults. In the video above, you can see a room with interactive ways for kids to learn about Monarch Butterflies. At the same time, composting sessions were held for adults.

Stephanie Chavara, a master gardener, says getting started with composting is actually quite easy.

“It’s important to do it it terms of saving the environment. It reduces methane in our landfills,” Chavara said. “Chop up your kitchen scraps, you find a spot in your garden. We are giving away free bins today, so that’s the easy way to do it. You can also just start by make it a pile outside anywhere that’s close to a water source and flat, and then you just start putting in there, put your leaves and your kitchen scraps and start turning it over, keeping it nice and moist. And within a matter of months, you’ll have dirt.”

She said composting is a great way to help planet Earth continue to thrive.