Thousands of volunteers helped collect an estimated 50 tons of trash from the Connecticut River and its tributaries in four states last week.Organizers of the Connecticut River Conservancy's 22nd Source to Sea Cleanup say the trash collected last Friday and Saturday in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut included nearly 1,000 tires, junked cars and even a 1,500-gallon fuel tank.
About 3,000 volunteers from faith communities, environmental groups, schools, community organizations, and businesses and employee service groups took part in the effort along the 410-mile river.
Learning some ugly lessons about CSO’s today while doing Source to the Sea clean up #TeachSDGs @Holyoke_High @CTRiverH2Oshed pic.twitter.com/1uBJXNMOnT
— Bob Frye (@fryer1776) September 29, 2018
Great day to be at River Highlands State Park. Thanks to the Source to the Sea clean up volunteers — 12 less bags of trash along the river. And tires too! @CTStateParks @CTDEEPNews @CTRiverH2Oshed #sourcetothesea pic.twitter.com/jK8O11hrAP
— ZebesZebra (@zebeszebra) September 30, 2018
#tiredoftires @CTRiverH2Oshed pic.twitter.com/5Vzr3yxn8Q
— kathyurf (@kathyurf) September 29, 2018
@CTRiverH2Oshed Few hours of “Source to Sea” clean up. #myctriver #ctriver #stopthetrash pic.twitter.com/Lbep8pONr0
— Francia Wisnewski (@franciawisnewsk) September 29, 2018
Andrew Fisk, the conservancy's executive director, said the focus now is on preventing trash in the first place. He says "we need to redesign our economy so there isn't waste in the first place" through partnerships between individuals, manufacturers, businesses and government.
