Recycling Day! (8-Sept-2016)

Since July 7th I had accumulated a good amount of recyclables. A recycling day was well overdue. My car needed a minor repair and while I was waiting to get it back I decided it was time for a recycling sort. Had around twenty bags to go through and I knew it was going to take me awhile. 

As always on my recycling days I sorted out the plastic bottles, plastic jugs, aluminum cans, oil containers and glass bottles. 

It took around five hours to get all of the bags sorted and all of the items counted.

In total there ended up being 2,828 recyclable items collected since July 7th. 1,282 plastic bottles, 1,258 aluminum cans, 245 glass bottles, 39 plastic milk/tea jugs and 4 plastic oil containers. This brought this years total to 12,536 recyclable items this project has removed from our waterways and natural areas here in Eastern Pennsylvania. 

This does not included recyclables collected on the Wildlands Conservancy clean-ups or the clean-ups I have done in Montgomery County. Wildlands properly disposed of the recyclables on their trips and the recyclables collected in Montgomery County were disposed of their due to me not wanting to possible transport a non-native insect pest that has been discovered in that area. I also have to thank Leigh Ann Stratakos, Tyler Sacks, Jeffrey Greco and Andrew Curtis, all who have helped with clean-ups since July 7th. 

I think 12,536 is a pretty good number of recyclables removed from our waterways and natural areas so far this year, but there is always more to be done. The clean-ups will continue!

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

Recycling Day! (7-July-2016)

Generally I wouldn't do a recycling day until I had accumulated about twenty bags of recyclables. Wanted to dispose of all of this before I left for NCJCS. Just over 11 bags full and I was trying to get this task accomplished as quickly as possible. Had some things to get done in the afternoon in preparation for camp.

One bag after the next I got all these recyclables sorted out. Being pressed for time I did not photograph the process this time, just the start and the end. 

In total there were 1,755 recyclable items taken off our waterways and trails since the last recycling day on May 11th. The break down was 949 plastic bottles, 646 aluminum cans, 136 glass bottles, 19 plastic tea/milk jugs, 3 plastic oil containers and two steel cans. For the year this brings the grand total to 9,708 recyclable items this project has removed! 

I am fairly certain the next post won't be up until NCJCS ends on the 16th, posts may not be up until the 17th or 18th. It does take some time to sort photos and upload everything. 

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

Recycling Day! (11-May-2016)

Had 27 bags of recyclables to sort through today. All were collected since March 16th. I have wanted to do a recycling day for some time now, but every time I planned one the weather would not cooperate. 

Just like picking up all of these recyclables, sorting them too, takes time. 

The sort and taking the plastics and glass to the recycling center took a little over seven hours. 

This was definitely the highest amount of cans I have had on any recycling day on this blog. 

In total there were 3,425 recyclable items. 1,669 aluminum cans, 1,455 plastic bottles, 244 glass bottles, 31 plastic milk/tea jugs and 26 plastic oil containers. 

This recycling day brings the years total up to 7,950 recyclable items taken out of our environment and disposed of properly. This is in addition to all of the non-recyclables and 62 tires removed from our state parks.  

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 blog? Like it on Facebook: Taking Out the Trash in Eastern PA

Recycling Day (16-Mar-2016)

Have been wanting to do a recycling day for over a week now. This was the first day everything worked out that I could. I had twenty bags of recyclables to sort through and I did want to still do a clean-up today so I started early. All of the trash in this post was collected since my last recycling day on February 7th. 

As usual this took some time. I sort and count everything. Did get distracted when counting glass bottles and I had to do a recount to get the numbers right. That was the worst part of the whole thing. In all it wasn't that bad of a sort.

Getting towards the end I knew I wasn't going to have as much as the last sort, but it was going to be close.

In total for this sort I had 2,147 recyclable items. There were 930 plastic bottles, 834 aluminum cans, 355 glass bottles, 18 plastic oil containers and 10 plastic jugs. 

This brought the 2016 total for recyclables to 4,528 so far this year. In addition I have taken a good amount of non-recyclables as well. It is still winter and I never expected to have accomplished this much this early on in the year. Much more to come!

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 blog? Like it on Facebook: Taking Out the Trash in Eastern PA

Recycling Day! (7-Feb-2016)

The first Recycling Day of 2016. I had just over twenty bags to sort through and I never thought in winter I would have this much. Waited for the perfect day with no wind and high enough temperatures to make it bearable sorting trash for many hours. 

I didn't remember picking up this many glass bottles. Last year I avoided glass, not wanting to deal with broken glass on these sorting days. With all of these I only had four or five bottles that broke and dealing with it wasn't that bad.

In total there were 2,381 recyclable items and one full bag of garbage. The recyclables included 928 aluminum cans, 884 plastic bottles, 533 glass bottles, 20 plastic jugs and 16 plastic oil containers. This was all taken from trailsides and riverbanks. There is always more work to be done and this was just the start for this year!

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

Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails (22-Dec-2015)

A rainy and fog filled day. I set off to Hazleton, my first priority was not a clean-up, but some last minute holiday shopping. Luckily, I got through that fairly quickly and decided to stop at the Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails and see if there was any trash. I wasn't surprised when I started finding things right away.

The bottle on the left was the first piece of trash today. It was located about 15 feet from both a recycling bin and a trash can. I deposited that bottle in the recycling bin so I wouldn't have to carry it on the whole trip. The next several items were water bottles, the same old trailside trash. 

One cool thing about this section of trail is that there are a lot of educational stops along the walk. At this particular site you can learn about different types of grasses. Other stops talk about habitats, wildlife and the historic significance of the area.

Not sure what the point of a sign this big along the trail accomplishes. The many posted signs bordering the trail are good enough to explain what the property is. One thing that it is definitely not doing is discouraging people from littering in the area. Either people don't know that their drinking water comes from the reservoirs on this property or they just don't care about trash in water they will eventually consume. 

If I come across larger patches of Green Briar on a trailside there is almost always trash throw in it. Maybe it is just my luck. I did get these items and the Green Briar got me as always.    

Last year I hiked this trail several times and in this visit I found some new additions. Not only did I see a couple new bat boxes, there was also a nice display by one that explained the importance of bats.

Three party balloons today. This is two of them.

Along much of the larger reservoir posted signs state that trespassing is not allowed. In one section though there are no signs and there is a trail that leads down to the water. There was trash all the way down. Mostly beer cans and plastic bottles.

This is the larger of the reservoirs here. It is fairly large, the water is down a bit since the last time I was there. 

There are countries where people can't get clean drinking water and here we can find full plastic water bottles just laying on trailsides. I sincerely hope that this bottle was accidentally dropped. The mystery can on the right is also a waste, but before the can is recycled I am going to get some use out of it. I will be making it a new label out of recycled/recyclable materials and giving it away as a holiday gift, not for consumption of course, but it should get a good laugh or two.

The round trip walk was just under five miles and I collected a little more than half a bag. I did a sort in the parking lot, but I did not have time to do a count. 

With both a trash can and recycling bin in the parking lot I took advantage of the situation and deposited everything but the cans in the proper receptacle. The recycling bin was a tiny annoyance with just the small hole on top and being locked on the side. I do completely understand why they do that though. I am exhausted. Tomorrow I will be doing a small clean-up at Hickory Run State Park and as it looks now I might be getting some help. 
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

Recycling Day (15-Dec-2015)

These are the bags of recyclables collected since November 18th. This does not include two bags that others helped me get to recycling and a couple bags of non-recyclables. I know this isn't as big as some of my other recycling days this year, I still think it is a decent amount. 

In total there were 1,578 recyclable items, 876 bottles, 591 cans, 33 jugs, 12 oil containers, 4 steel cans and 62 glass bottles. There were also two full bags of non-recyclables, they were mostly styrofoam, jugs that have started to photodegrade and plastics that were not recyclable in this area.   

A lot of kids sand toys. I think the Gonzo I found this past week was the best toy find so far. This was the first time I started collecting glass all year. It did not work out that bad. Only one broken bottle by today, weight will still be an issue in the future collecting glass. I can only carry so much so far. Still no snow so I will continue collecting until I can't. I may make daily recycling trips now, the recycling center is generally full for some time after Christmas and I don't want to be holding onto a bunch of trash. The next recycling day post might not be until Spring of 2016.

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

Lehigh Canal Park (13-Dec-2015)

With temperatures so high for this time of year I couldn't go back to the road today. I know in previous posts I said I was done with on the water clean-ups for the year, but today was just too tempting. I will point out that it is not safe to kayak at this time of year. The air temperature is deceiving, it feels warm enough to get out there, but if you fall in you can be in trouble. The water temps are low and there is a very good risk of hypothermia. I would not suggest going out at this time of year unless you are an experienced kayaker, even then you should take someone with you. Now that I have given a warning about cold water lets get to the trash!

Started off going to the edge of the old sealed lock. I knew there were items here from previous walking clean-ups. The one piece of trash that has bothered me for awhile I still couldn't get to. It is on the left along the canal wall at the edge of this now dam. There was just no way today I could get to it safely. If it were summer it would have been an easy get out and grab. The rest of the items in this photo were no problem. 

When I did previous clean ups here from the path I thought I did a good job of cleaning up the trash on the bank. Man was I wrong. This clean-up had to be done by kayak. I am glad I got it in today. 

A twenty year old gonzo in a boat! What a find! He even looks like he too is collecting trash. This sure is one item I will be holding on to. 

Another one! Just how many of these are still around? 

Styrofoam, bottles, more styrofoam, a lighter, more styrofoam, a bag and repeat. That was basically the entire trip as far as the trash went. 

Here I had to get out and walk away from the kayak and the trash for a minute. I picked up a floating bag half filled with a mixture of water and a substance that I would rather not mention. I did not know what was in it when I emptied it. I will tell you it was gross, no where close to the worst thing this year, but bad. 

This section of canal is not very large and I have never paddled it before. I didn't realize at the end it opened up into a wide shallow area. The canal does continue on after this, but it has been damed off at this point and I can't remember, but I think above this it really isn't navigable until Weisport.

Before I headed back down the canal I stopped in an area where it looked like a lot of items were washed up. The spot actually looked like an old dirt road that ran right down to the canal. Picked up a few items here.

In addition to the trash above I found this shell in the small break out of the kayak. The shell is from a young Common Musk Turtle. Common Musk Turtles are also called Stinkpots and as both of these names suggest when disturbed the turtles musk, producing a foul smelling odor. Musk Turtles spend most of their time in the water and it is not often that you will see one out basking. I did take this shell and it will end up going to East Stroudsburg University and may become part of the schools Herpetological collection. I would like to point out that it is illegal to take or possess even a shell of a native turtle in Pennsylvania without a valid PA fishing license. Even if you have a license if you find a shell of a protected species it would still be unlawful to take. Musk Turtles for now are considered abundant in the state and I do currently possess a valid license.

My view on the paddle back. I wish every bag of trash could be so perfectly balanced when I am collecting on the water. With this one I was even able to lean for items and it just stayed in place, it was a nice bit of luck.

Coming up to this plastic bag I told myself that this would be the last piece of trash I would pick up. It never works out that way. After the bag I did get one more plastic bottle and several more styrofoam items. Then I also did a walk of the edge of the parking lot which produced five or six more items. 

A full bag of non-recyclables, much of which was styrofoam and what ended up being close to a full bag of recyclables. I had the back portion of my kayak completely full and much of the front of the kayak as well. The last stretch was a little uncomfortable with sharing my leg space with the trash and several spiders which had made there way into my boat. I think it was an awesome amount of trash for a December canal clean-up.

The unique items today included not only Gonzo, but a pufferfish that squirts, a child size plastic pitch for head and seven lures of varying condition. This may have been the most lures I have found in one day, I am not positive on that though, I picked up a good number on the Schuylkill River this year. 

There are four trash cans that I could see at this site. I chose to put the non-recyclables in the one furthest from the canal. I have seen many park trash cans thrown into both the canal and the river. I really don't want that to happen to one full of trash I took out of it. It is very sad that this has to even be a consideration. 

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