Partners for Clean Streams and community partners hosted the 27th annual Clean Your Streams Day on September 30.
For the fourth year, volunteers also had the option to participate in a remote kickoff, cleaning a waterway site at a time and location of their choosing.
Across both the in-person and do-it-yourself clean-ups, 723 volunteers removed 14,957 pounds of trash from 70 sites along 37 river miles of northwest Ohio’s rivers, streams, creeks and ditches in September.
Cleanup sites were held across the region, from Oak Openings area to the downtown riverfront in Toledo to Big Ditch in the east.
Clean Your Streams is a watershed clean-up program where volunteers remove trash and record citizen science data on the items they collect.
It is the largest cleanup in Ohio that contributes marine debris data to the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) database.
Volunteers impact watersheds across the region, including the Ottawa River, Swan Creek, Maumee River and Maumee Bay tributaries. Over the past 27 years, more than 16,250 volunteers have removed approximately 397,600 pounds of marine debris.
Like previous years, the most frequently removed items from northwest Ohio’s waterways were food wrappers, cigarette butts and plastic beverage bottles.
Unusual finds this year included a message in a bottle, turtle-shaped sandbox, hot tub cover, bar stool, bowling ball, coffee table, plastic Christmas tree and an inner tube full of bricks.
Partners for Clean Streams coordinates marine debris removal and prevention programs, as well as public educational initiatives, throughout the year. The organization is a nonprofit supporting local and regional water quality improvements in the metro-Toledo area.
The organization works toward abundant open space and a high-quality natural environment; adequate floodwater storage capacities and flourishing wildlife; stakeholders who take local ownership in their resources, and rivers, streams and lakes that are clean, clear and safe. For more information, visit PartnersforCleanStreams.org
