One hour into the River Run Garbage Grab, and I was already winded, swilling down water from the thermos we’d brought along. By the two hour mark, my back and legs were aching, and I was exhausted. Even as I looked along the riverbank for a few more stray pieces of trash, I knew I was pretty much done and would have to leave any remaining cleanup for another time. Two hours, three full trash bags, and one very tired human being. Well, two actually since my wife was the one who got us into this whole thing in the first place.
I’d never heard of the River Stewards before a month or two ago, but apparently they have been around for many years. Like the name implies, they are a group that takes care of the waterways we have in Iowa Pleasant Hill
We ended up finding out about the cleanup through a group that my wife is part of, which decided the cause was worthwhile enough to tag along with. She immediately wanted to sign up, but I was a bit more hesitant. Not that I didn’t want to help clean the environment - quite the opposite actually. I wanted very much to do some volunteering, especially in a way related to nature, but I was concerned there wouldn’t be enough trash for the effort to be worthwhile. My exact words were “I don’t want to get down there and just find a beer can and two cigarette butts.” After a little discussion, we decided to sign up anyway, and whatever we could do would be better than nothing.
Flash forward to the day of the cleanup. After being given gloves, trash bags and garbage grabbers, we wait to see if the rangers had any recommendations for where we should begin. She asks how ambitious we are. We decide that since we’re a pretty young group, we should be fairly ambitious. The ranger then uses a word I’d never heard before, “riprap,” and points toward the dam.
Riprap, as it turns out, is a word for giant chunks of rock that are used to line waterways in some places. I suppose it’s used against erosion, or something, but from my untrained eye all it meant was a very uneven riverbank that a lot of people were fishing off of. We started off tentatively, balancing on the rocks and carefully picking up a bottle here or a piece of paper there. It didn’t take long for me to realize we’d be collecting far more than a can and a few cigarettes, and not much longer after that for us to fill trash bags.
That’s because the riprap was appallingly covered in trash. Walking up, it didn’t seem like there would be much, but once we got in and amongst the rocks, we couldn’t turn around without finding more garbage. There were cans and bottles, plastic cups, bait containers, fishing line and so much more.
The bait containers were particularly nice, because they are most often made of Styrofoam, one of the cheapest materials possible, but also one of the worst. The ones that had been out there for a while had gotten brittle in the sun, and looked like they would have fallen apart if we hadn’t been there to pick them up. Of course, when they do, they break into small pieces, but don’t break down. So they stay in the water, leaching chemicals, or get eaten by fish, or just go downstream to the ocean. Look up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch if you don’t believe me.
And the fishing line. I think we picked up more of that than anything else. And it was almost always tangled up on the rocks, so it couldn’t be grabbed all at once. I’d try and try to get it, but the only way was to end up giving in and ripping it, assuming that it was better to get some of it in the landfill than none at all. In two hours, we had filled three full-size garbage bags and worn ourselves out with all the tugging and grabbing as well as the balance required to stand on the riprap.
While I caught my breath and drank some well-needed Gatorade, I looked back at what we had done that day. It hadn’t taken long for my mood to change from one of happiness at the good work that we were doing to almost being depressed at how bad things had been. There was so much trash, and every piece that we had picked up meant that another human being had carelessly left it there. How can these people simply not care? If the River Stewards hadn’t planned this event, how bad would things get? Would most people ever care, or would they just keep letting the trash pile up?
The other thing that bugged me were the fishermen. I have been told for years and years that fishermen are outdoorsmen, people who really care about the environment and understand that to take from it you need to give back, too. But I don’t think I saw anyone like that out on the Garbage Grab. A few people picked up the trash around them and handed it to us if we got too close, and there was one guy who said he thought it was terrible that people threw garbage there on the side of the river. But did they pick up trash because they cared, or because they wanted us to get away from them? And had we not been there, would anyone have picked anything up? If people think the conditions are awful, do they do anything about it when there aren’t volunteers there?
I don’t want to come off as too much of a downer, because I do think that the Garbage Grab is a great event and I think that everyone who participated did a very good thing. I’m just disappointed that people will literally trash things to the point where such an event is not just beneficial, but necessary. How great would it be if the Garbage Grab is run and there is nothing to pick up because everyone has been conscientious with their waste and ambitious enough to collect what they find? Let’s all do our part so next year when I’m out there, two hours of work leaves me with a lot more energy and a lot less trash.
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