Volunteers will soon be scouring the roadsides looking for trash during the year’s final Adopt-A-Highway pickup.

Thousands of volunteers in the popular Michigan Department of Transportation program will be picking up litter along highway roadsides from Saturday, Sept. 23, through Sunday, Oct. 1.

“As the fall pickup approaches, we’d like to thank Adopt-A-Highway groups for their hard work and community spirit again this year,” said State Transportation Director Kirk T. Steudle.

There are three scheduled Adopt-A-Highway pickups each year: one each in the spring, summer and fall.

Volunteers in Michigan have been participating in the program since 1990. Every year, Adopt-A-Highway volunteers collect more than 60,000 bags of trash. The popular program has grown to involve more than 2,800 groups cleaning 6,400 miles of highway.

Motorists should be on the lookout beginning Saturday for volunteers wearing high-visibility, yellow-green safety vests. MDOT provides free vests and trash bags, and arranges to haul away the trash.

Volunteers include members of civic groups, businesses and families. Crew members have to be at least 12 years old and each group must number at least three people.

Sections of highway are still available for adoption. Interested groups should check the MDOT Adopt-A-Highway website at www.michigan.gov/adoptahighway for more information and the name of their county’s coordinator, who can specify available roadsides. Groups are asked to adopt a section of highway for at least two years; there is no fee to participate. Adopt-A-Highway volunteer groups are recognized with signs bearing a group’s name posted along stretches of adopted highway.

Several landfills in southwestern Michigan are also chipping in to help the Adopt-A-Highway Program this year.

Westside Landfill in St. Joseph County, C&C Landfill in Calhoun County, Orchard Hill Landfill in Berrien County, Southeast Berrien County Landfill near Niles, and Republic Services Gembrit Circle Transfer Station in Kalamazoo have all agreed to accept trash generated by the three annual scheduled Adopt-A-Highway pickups at no charge. In exchange, these businesses will receive a sign recognizing their support.