Since I started this project I have been asking for requests of places to clean-up. Riverfront park in Norristown has been the only one I have received so far. The park isn't that big and it was packed full of trash. From what I could see there were several reasons for all of the trash. It receives wash-up from the river, from the amount of beer bottles it is a popular place to drink and although there are a lot of trash cans, it looks like they are not maintained well. I was glad I finally was able to get down to this park yesterday and even got some help. Jeff Greco, who helped me last year with a couple of the clean-ups was able to make it for this one as well. It was incredibly cold and the help was much appreciated.
I arrived early so I got to work on collecting the recyclables before Mr. Greco got there. The above is the fist large grouping of trash washed up in a debris pile. The idea was to do a walkthrough for recyclables first then go back on a second pass for the non-recyclables.
There was more than one basketball found in the park, this one was the only one with a neat ring of ice around it. I did pull this out of the river and placed it on the bank to be picked up later.
Looking upriver on the Schuylkill. The park does offer two boat launches and this small concrete dock. This will make an excellent take out point for river clean-ups this spring and summer. I can't wait!
On the left was a debris line that I was able to pick through and remove the trash without a problem. The right photo shows items stuck in a strainer that I wasn't able to remove. I was able to reach some of them with the tongs, the problem was they were frozen solid in a small ice sheet. I couldn't do anything, but leave them there. On the second pass for non-recyclables I was able to remove the small green propane tank closest to shore, but that was it.
The upriver side of the park ends in a berm that goes up to an old closed road. The berm was covered in trash and I worked my way up it and picked through the brush taking out everything I could see. This filled my first bag of recyclables and I headed back to the car and picked up another bag.
After collecting recyclables around the back edge of the parking lot I went back to the rivers edge and worked downriver. More of the same.
It did not take long to fill the second recyclable bag and I picked up a couple additional items which I took to the trash cans right away. The white item to the right in this photo is a huge chunk of what I call river foam. River foam is just huge chunks of styrofoam that I find on rivers. As I wrapped up this second bag Mr. Greco arrived and we started working on the non-recyclables.
This is a Ring-Billed Gull. There was a small flock of these there the whole time we were there doing the clean-up. They probably enjoy some of the trash left in the park that contain food items.
Mr. Greco picking the trash out of the debris line I removed the recyclables from earlier.
Two full bags plus of just trash and we only covered half the park by this point. Jeff wanted me to point out the NO LITTERING sign in this photo. It looks as though the sign is often ignored and I doubt many people have been prosecuted here.
The non-recyclables from this round were deposited in this can and we returned to my car to pick up another bag. I don't like wasting bags, normally both would have been dumped out into the can in order to reuse the bags. In this case the first bag was dumped and the second was placed on top. This was done to keep all of the contents in the can. I just imagined dumping them out and with the wind, everything just blowing right back out again.
This Red-Tailed Hawk landed just above my car when we were walking over to grab another bag. It stuck around for a few photos and then flew off.
A Ruby-Crowned Kinglet came and gave us a close look as we started working downriver for the non-recyclables.
We came close to filling two more bags of non-recyclables by the end. Also, found more recyclables which more than filled my backpack. In total we removed over two bags of recyclables and deposited four bags of just plain old trash in the receptacles on site.
Ending this post with a very colorful mural on a storage container in the park. From here, Jeff and I headed over to the nearby Norristown Farm Park.
I will point out that we were not able to clean-up this park completely. We did our best under the frigid conditions and I will be back to work on this park again!
You too can help with taking out the trash! If you get out hiking take a grocery bag with you, give it a second use and fill it with trash while you are out! Every bit helps. You can also help contributing to this project here: Help Fund Taking Out the Trash
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