On our last visit to Minisink Park, Leigh Ann Stratakos of 3 Moons Studio and I were informed that there was going to be an event held in the park the following weekend. Knowing this we planned to do another clean-up before the event was held. The main goal was to work on cleaning up the trails, which on the last visit we did not get to. Right away we found that the clean-up was going to be more work than we anticipated when we checked on the area we cleaned up last week. It was once again a mess. Not as bad, but still it was a disappointment. The bank along the creek in the photo above didn't have much trash, but the trails to it had piles.
More diapers. I have never seen so many diapers littered in a park like this before. I think there were more than last week. There are garbage cans, just a short distance away by the soccer fields. These are never fun to pick up and it is something that parents need to dispose of properly.
These are items that I think we missed last week. The football will be finding a new home and the can was clearly improperly labeled. It was not under the mistletoe, it was under a bridge.
A discarded waste bin found along the trailside. Someone thought enough to bring one along, just didn't understand the concept of taking it out.
In several of the places where trash was left behind it was clear that wildlife had gone threw it. Ingestion of small plastics, like these candy wrappers can be extremely detrimental to wildlife.
These piles were in nearly the exact same location as piles we cleaned up last week and they had similar items. Mostly picnic materials like styrofoam plates, plastic utensils and bags. There were also diapers in these piles as well.
This was something new. Both Leigh Ann and I found plastic punch bowls. Such a waste, these items could have been reused multiple times. Instead they were discarded as a single use item and not even discarded properly. We waste so much and we don't need to.
This was everything we collected from the first round. All from the same area we cleaned up last week. After throwing out the trash and loading the recyclables into my car, we set out for the second round on the trails.
Right away we found this. It looked like it was a bag that wasn't secured in a trash can or dumpster and had been pulled into the wood line and ripped apart by wildlife. I went down and picked up this mess while Leigh Ann went further ahead and worked on the trail.
I found the Ninja Turtle bottle in the tree line pile and Leigh Ann found the can. When she showed me the can I couldn't believe it! On it was a fish native to Pennsylvania! I had been looking for one like this since I first started finding these types of cans in the past couple months. So the person who drank this and left it behind at least got a chance to learn the name of one of the species he/she was potentially impacting by leaving their refuse behind.
The first section of trails we hit really were not that bad. There were a few items here and there, but for the most part there wasn't much at all.
This was everything from the second round and included the section of trails by the Brodhead and around the soccer fields.
Leigh Ann found a soccer medal and was kind enough to give it to Penny. Penny seemed to be proud of her new award. We were not done for the day and headed over to another section of the park away from the Brodhead, that is sandwiched between railroad tracks and route 80. The remainder of this trash collecting adventure will be up in the next post!
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
Like this project? Like it on Facebook: Taking Out the Trash in Eastern PA
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