After an attempt to drag a heavy conversation piece up flights of Multi-Service Center stairs proved dangerous on Tuesday, Nora Bicki, Anti-litter Ambassador for grassroots community group Don't Trash Wareham, elicited the help of earnest Onset resident Joe Leggett.

The pair decided the elevator would be a better bet. After mechanical wonkiness sent them to the basement, Leggett, Bicki, and her haul arrived safely on the third floor and headed into the Selectmen's meeting room, where Bicki prepared to give her report on Don't Trash Wareham's annual town-wide cleanup, held last month.

It was there that she revealed this year's cleanup's favorite find: A massive bluish-green bowling ball, uncovered by Selectman Chair Peter Teitelbaum on the side of Minot Avenue.

"It's... shiny!" someone yelled in surprise.

"Should we auction it off?" Bicki asked the Selectmen.

After some consideration, Bicki noted that it probably wouldn't generate much cash.

"Whoever threw it out of the car damaged it," she said, spinning the bowling ball on the table between two microphones and pointing to its flaws.

In her report, Bicki explained that for the third of the annual Earth Day weekend cleanups, Don't Trash Wareham organizers asked the community to form teams and tackle trashy areas of town.

"We base our annual cleanup on the fact that litter attracts litter," Bicki explained.

From students to scouts to families to churches, businesses, civic organizations, and sports teams, with team names such as the Main Street Trash Monsters, the Trash Trolls, and Selectmen Sweepers... the concept appeared to work.

Bicki explained that as in past years, volunteers picked up hundreds of "nips," the small, single-serving bottles of alcohol. Don't Trash Wareham is currently drumming up support for a bill in the House of Representatives that would require a five-cent deposit on the bottles, with the hope that fewer would become litter.

Bicki asked the Selectmen to send a letter of support for the bill. The board agreed to do so.

Don't Trash Wareham is also circulating petitions around town in support of the bill. Petitions are located at the Wareham Free Library on Marion Road and the Spinney Memorial Library on Onset Avenue, as well as at the Onset Bay Association office on Union Avenue. Anyone interested in collecting signatures can email donttrashwareham@gmail.com for the petition forms.

The cleanup overall was a success, Bicki noted.

Covanta SEMASS in Rochester donated 30-yard dumpsters to the effort. Lowe's, Home Depot, and Stop and Shop donated trash bags to the effort, which Bicki doled out to student groups, nonprofits, and church groups who needed them. 7-Eleven in East Wareham donated bags to the nearby Shangri La neighborhood volunteers.

The community filled two dumpsters, while some volunteers opted to bring their corralled trash directly to area transfer stations.

Selectman Judith Whiteside, a founding member of Don't Trash Wareham along with Selectman Alan Slavin and community member Mary Bruce, praised Bicki's work in organizing the cleanups, as well as her efforts to educate students in Wareham Public Schools about litter.

"I want to commend Nora Bicki, who has really done an enormous amount of work," Whiteside said. "Without your backbone, we really wouldn't [have been] able to accomplish what the community has accomplished."

For more information about Don't Trash Wareham, visit https://www.facebook.com/donttrashwareham.

Full disclosure: This reporter is a founding member of Don't Trash Wareham. In a staffing pinch, I found myself unexpectedly covering the Selectmen's meeting Tuesday.