AMHERST — Linda and Roger Stenlund are avid swimmers and hikers.
On Saturday, the South Amherst couple woke up early and put their hobby to a good cause, collecting five bags of trash from the Harkness Brook Conservation Area.
The Stenlunds were among hundreds of others who were out picking up litter at various sites throughout the Valley as part of the Connecticut River Conservancy’s 26th annual Source to Sea Cleanup.
“We found three basketballs, beer bottles, styrofoam from a cooler, a plastic sled and loads of gum wrappers,” Linda Stenlund said. “We’re so happy to be able to contribute. It feels good to help. We had a great time and we’re definitely coming back again next year.”
From a badminton net to a crusty old bicycle, Christine Hatch, a member of the Fort River Watershed Association, also noted that there seemed to be a lot of discarded recreational equipment collected.
“One of the more unique finds this year was a gravestone,” she said. “It was discovered tipped on its side in Scarborough Brook, a tributary of Hop Brook in Belchertown, which flows in the Fort River.”
As items were collected, volunteers from the Fort River Watershed Association kept a running tally of each type of trash collected — plastic, glass, paper and other materials.
Some of the most prevalent items of debris picked up by volunteers were styrofoam coffee cups, according to Sarah Thornbrugh, a member of the Fort River Watershed Association.
Tracking items people toss out is valuable information to share with manufacturers as the Conservancy advocates for products to be made with materials that are more environmentally friendly.
Similar cleanup events took place throughout communities along the river. In Franklin County, Girl Scout Troop 64980 collected trash on the side of Bernardston Road as part of the Green River Cleanup.
“We want to help the community so no trash is in the river,” Mila Phelps said.
Neal Leno was another volunteer. He spent his morning picking up trash behind the Stop & Shop in Greenfield. This was his eighth year volunteering at the Green River Cleanup. “We all live off the river. I don’t want to go to the beach and have it look like this,” he said, pointing to the litter he was picking up.
Years ago the cleanup event threw all the trash away, putting all their findings directly into the waste stream. Charlie Olchowski, one of the organizers with Source to the Sea, changed their system. Now when the collection has culminated, everything is organized into the different recycling systems including tires, metal, electronics, wood and bottles.
“I thought there has to be a better way to dispose of what we collect, so I made this system,” Olchowski said.
Michael Pattavina is another organizer for the event as well as a technician for the Connecticut River Conservatory. He explained four rivers converge on Greenfield so there is a large clean up area the group is responsible for. According to Pattavina, the day’s volunteers numbering at about 250 usually gather about 20 tons of waste.
“We are finding a lot of debris from old dump sites,” he said. Most of the debris comes from waste that is decades old. Many old tires are found throughout the clean up project.
“We want to find out where the litter comes from, so we can be proactive,” Pattavina continued. He explained he would like the tire industry to do something about all the old tires found every year.
He also said there should be a ban on nips, small single service sized alcohol bottles, because they are found throughout the watershed as well.
Every year there is a dirtiest kid contest, as well as an unusual item found during the clean up contest.
Stacey Lennard, another event organizer, explained 123 groups participated all month in cleaning up the watershed. The watershed goes from the border of Canada and the U.S., all the way down to the Long Island Sound, so this diversion of trash not only affects Hampshire and Franklin counties, but people living all along the river’s pathway.
“The volunteers are the heart and soul of this clean up,” she said.
