On September 14th I attended the cleanup of Greenfield Lake, my first event with CFRW! The cleanup was part of a larger event called International Coastal CleanUp – in addition to CFRW’s cleanup at Greenfield Lake, there were six other locations in the Wilmington area, such as at Wrightsville Beach, along the River to Sea bike trail, and at Carolina Beach. At Greenfield Lake we had 44 volunteers and together we picked up 140 pounds of recycling and 150 pounds of trash.
The event was planned by Patrick (Greenfield Lake’s boathouse manager and an all-around helpful staff member of CFRW) in partnership with Keep New Hanover Beautiful (KNHB), a non-profit organization whose mission is to reduce litter, improve recycling, and beautify New Hanover County with the help of volunteers. Patrick coordinated the cleanups all over the Wilmington area, and he personally managed the cleanup of Greenfield Lake. I helped him with some tasks like setting up the sign-in area, checking people in, sorting trash, and taking tons of photos.
Why are these cleanups so important? Aside from the obvious aesthetic reasons, they’re also important because litter can cause huge problems for our environment! Litter is a type of nonpoint source pollution (pollution that comes from many different sources, so you can’t pinpoint exactly where it’s coming from) that can enter into our waterways via stormwater runoff (rainwater that picks up pollutants as it drains from streets and properties into creeks and waterways, polluting them). In addition to clogging storm drains and causing flooding, litter that has made its way into our waterways can be really harmful for wildlife. For example, plastic bags floating in the water can resemble jellyfish, so sea turtles eat them and then suffocate. Birds also sometimes eat plastic litter, thinking it’s food, and then they can die. Cigarette butts are a particularly harmful form of litter, making up 50% of all roadway litter! They contain harmful chemicals that can leach into our waterways.
It’s not all bad, though! At the cleanup, I was able to meet and talk to likeminded individuals who care about keeping our community and our environment healthy for ourselves and for the future. I particularly enjoyed meeting some board members of KNHB and learning about what they’re doing for our community. One of their really cool projects is a cigarette litter recycling initiative: they work with businesses, property owners, and organizations across the county to get cigarette butts recycled. To date they’ve recycled over 680 pounds of cigarette butts, helping to keep those harmful chemicals from polluting our waterways!
Patrick coordinates a cleanup of one of our local waterways every second Saturday of the month. So far this year, volunteers have picked up 1700 pounds of trash and 696 pounds of recycling from 6.03 miles of streams. Our next cleanup is on October 12th at McCumber’s Ditch, a tributary of Burnt Mill Creek. If you’re interested in volunteering on a cleanup and would like some more information, let me know, all ages are welcome! Shoot me an e-mail at audrey@cfrw.us, I would love to see you out there!
