Four Mile Run cleaning days in Feb.
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Wow, such a productive event! Yellow trash bags full of garbage fished from the water, the shore, the hillsides down to the shore, and some of the flats along the bike path itself. Eager to hear the total weight!
{EDIT: twitter post afterwards, from organizers, says “over half a ton” collected!}
Can’t speak for all the attendees (it sure seemed pretty well attended!) but:A) SO much nicer weather to encourage cleaning up, vs MLK Day at Belle Haven! What a difference another 18 degrees and no biting wind makes!
SO much readily available trash to pick up–the upside being that it registered very high on the “instant gratification factor”! Progress was almost immediately visible and noticeable.
C) SO much less styrofoam than Belle Have, which was a wonderful change. However, so many more glass bottles, aluminum cans, and water bottles. Lots of take-away food containers too, at least where I was working.
D) SO many traffic cones! 4 were collected, I think!
E) SO many Swisher Sweets wrappers, you’d think there must be a dedicated store nearby, giving them away. Never been a smoker here but simply cannot figure out the appeal of a mango flavored cigarillo…?
F) SO much metal waste… a whole rear bike wheel, a whole half buried shopping cart, a table / dining knife, a kitchen knife, a bit of metal fencing, etc. a very eclectic mix that kept you wondering what you’d find next…
G) SO surprising to pull someone’s underwear out of the mud. (Then again, maybe not, given all the beer and liquor bottles…)Many thanks, Judd, for first alerting me to the event, and to Kurt at the Conservancy, for organizing/hosting, and having snacks, chocolate, water, great sturdy trash bags and gloves on hand!
@Christob50 187205 wrote:
Wow, such a productive event! Yellow trash bags full of garbage fished from the water, the shore, the hillsides down to the shore, and some of the flats along the bike path itself. Eager to hear the total weight!
{EDIT: twitter post afterwards, from organizers, says “over half a ton” collected!}
Can’t speak for all the attendees (it sure seemed pretty well attended!) but:A) SO much nicer weather to encourage cleaning up, vs MLK Day at Belle Haven! What a difference another 18 degrees and no biting wind makes!
SO much readily available trash to pick up–the upside being that it registered very high on the “instant gratification factor”! Progress was almost immediately visible and noticeable.
C) SO much less styrofoam than Belle Have, which was a wonderful change. However, so many more glass bottles, aluminum cans, and water bottles. Lots of take-away food containers too, at least where I was working.
D) SO many traffic cones! 4 were collected, I think!
E) SO many Swisher Sweets wrappers, you’d think there must be a dedicated store nearby, giving them away. Never been a smoker here but simply cannot figure out the appeal of a mango flavored cigarillo…?
F) SO much metal waste… a whole rear bike wheel, a whole half buried shopping cart, a table / dining knife, a kitchen knife, a bit of metal fencing, etc. a very eclectic mix that kept you wondering what you’d find next…
G) SO surprising to pull someone’s underwear out of the mud. (Then again, maybe not, given all the beer and liquor bottles…)Many thanks, Judd, for first alerting me to the event, and to Kurt at the Conservancy, for organizing/hosting, and having snacks, chocolate, water, great sturdy trash bags and gloves on hand!
Thanks for coming out today and I hope you continue to volunteer with Four Mile Run Conservatory. Today’s cleanup made a huge difference. To put the 1,000 pounds collected today in context: The total weight from all of last year’s cleanups was around 2,000 pounds. Doing some rough math, I think 2,000 pounds has already been collected this year with four cleanups.
This was my third cleanup with 4MR Conservatory and each part of the river seems to have it’s own unique collection of trash. On the Alexandria side next to Mt. Vernon Avenue the trash was mostly plastic shopping bags and food wrappers. I only managed to fill half a bag because everything was so little and light. The cleanup last week near the Route 1 bridge where folks fish a lot was mostly beverage containers, styrofoam and fishing line. A previous cleanup on a side creek was a lot of beverage containers and larger food wrappers.
My suspicion on the Swisher Sweets wrappers would be that it’s from the dudes that hang out under and around the bridge at night smoking pot.
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