Westfield celebrates Earth Month with eco-friendly activities

Westfield is celebrating Earth Month 2025 with a variety of activities focused on sustainability and environmental stewardship. The events provide opportunities for residents to donate items, volunteer and learn about supporting the ecosystem.

Free Market

Saturday, April 5, at the South Avenue Train Station Lot

Folks are invited to donate or take home (at no cost!) yard sale-quality items such as clothing, kitchen items, garden tools, housewares, sports equipment, and books. This is a intended to be a means of sharing still-usable items instead of discarding them, reducing what is sent to the landfill.

  • Donated items must be new or gently used, clean, in workable condition, and able to be carried by an individual.
  • Items should be clearly labeled in boxes or paper bags (not plastic bags) and separated by category, so they can be easily sorted and made available to browsers.
  • Categories of accepted items include clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry, kitchenware, housewares like blankets and bedding, books, CDs, DVDs, video games, flat screen TVs, electronics, sporting goods, small furniture, toys, musical instruments, lamps, gardening tools, sleds, and sporting goods.
  • School supplies are now an acceptable item in support of a Girl Scout project to repurpose and redistribute school supplies.
  • Categories of unaccepted items include large appliances and furniture, mini-refrigerators, air conditioners, tube TVs, computer monitors, food items, fragile glassware, strollers, car seats, cribs, exercise equipment, mattresses, foam pads, carpets, ladders, recyclables (like paper, cans, etc.), textbooks, and magazines.

To volunteer at the free market, click here.

Great Swamp Native Plant Sale

April 1 to 18

To “support wildlife in your own backyard,” residents are invited to buy native plant species through the Great Swamp Watershed Association. Kits will be sold that suit a variety of garden conditions, as well as individual plant species, with pickup for Westfield residents at Brightwood Park on Saturday, May 3. View the online catalog and order here.

Community Park Cleanups

Sunday, April 27, 10 a.m. until noon

Folks are invited to spend the morning volunteering and helping to beautify Westfield’s parks. Families, teens, Girl/Boy Scout troops, and others are welcome. Participants are asked to bring gardening gloves and meet at one of the locations below. Sign up is recommended.

  • Tamaques Park: Basketball courts
  • Brightwood Park: Parking lot (entrance off Prospect Street)
  • Clark Park: Corner of East Dudley and Tuttle Parkway

To volunteer, click here.

Brightwood Park Day

Saturday, May 3

Brightwood Park is a 44-acre nature preserve featuring walking trails and a pond loop. Stop by and join Friends of Brightwood Park (FOBP) and other local community groups for a day of exploration and discovery. Activities will include birding, photography, nature walks, children’s nature class, and more. Residents are welcome to visit the Green Team’s table to learn about natural approaches to mosquito control and build your own “bucket of doom,” a method to control mosquito populations in your yard.

Keep an eye on the FOBP’s website for more information and to register for specific activities.

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Generative AI was used to produce an initial draft of this story, which was reviewed and edited by NJ Advance Media staff.

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