PITTSBURGH -- Pennsylvania is putting up $1 million to back a nonprofit group's statewide war on illegal dumping.

“There's always progress to be made. If you clean up a site and it does reoccur, chances are it's less and you catch it sooner,” said Shannon Reiter of Pennsylvania Cleanways.

The programs are meant to not only help people in neighborhoods keep up with the cleanup, but to keep up with caring as well.

Part of Sylvan Avenue was intended to be a greenway, but it’s one of nearly 300 illegal dumping spots identified statewide by Pennsylvania CleanWays.

But there’s a reason why they’re not giving up, even when dumpers come back.

“Caring about where I live, and I think that's why other volunteers do it also. Caring about our environment, caring about our communities,” said Myrna Newman of Allegheny CleanWays.

The state's environmental program is also offering $500,000 more to other groups if they help fight the blight.

"It's not taxpayer money, in fact, it’s fine and penalty money,” said Thomas Fidler of the Department of Environmental Protection.

While it can be discouraging to see something dumped in a spot that was cleaned up before, activists believe if they keep coming back too, eventually they will make a difference.

"Once they get the initial clean up, they'll take care of something. They'll stay on top of it. We've seen that in the past, and that's how this will help us,” said Guy Costa of the Pittsburgh Public Works Department.