Bicycles, TVs, and mountains of tires.
These are all things which have been removed from local waterways as part of Breakfast Rotary’s annual River Cleanup.
There’s been washing machines and dryers too.
Hundreds of local volunteers will be at it again this Saturday, cleaning around 40 miles of waterways for the 10th annual River Cleanup. It’s expected more than 10 tons of garbage will be removed from local rivers.
“What we’ve discovered in doing this is there’s no government agency responsible for cleaning rivers,” said Breakfast Rotary Club member Rachel Killebrew. “Trash that’s thrown in there stays there.”
Killebrew said she talked to a water department employee when Breakfast Rotary first began the river cleanup and he said there was a rusty barrel across the river from the water plant when he first took the job. Some 36 years later, that rusty barrel was still there.
“In addition to the cleanup, there needs to be an educational aspect to this that you’re not supposed to throw trash in the river,” said Killebrew. “It would be so much easier to catch this on the front end and keep people from throwing trash to begin with."
When the cleanup first got its start, Breakfast Rotary focused on the three miles between Pepper Branch Park and Rocket Park. Now the effort has expanded to include 40 miles of river. Some 400 volunteers have been split into 22 teams with each team assigned a different area.
Killebrew says most people have preregistered and been assigned a team. She says volunteers are still encouraged to show up this Saturday at Pepper Branch Park where registration will take place between 7 and 9 a.m. Every boat is scheduled to be in the water by 9 a.m.
It would be helpful for those who have yet to register to bring their own boat and life jacket. Killebrew says most of the other boats have already been assigned, although there is some space available.
“The next step we’d like to take is to start an adopt a mile program,” said Killebrew. “This would be for clubs and church groups to pick a mile and work to keep that mile clean year-round. With 100 miles of river in Warren County, that would be the best way to make a difference.”