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Source to Sea Cleanup Event Slated for September

Now in its 25th year, the Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC) Source to Sea Cleanup event is planned for Friday to Sunday, Sept. 24 to 26, with volunteer sign-ups for different locations available this summer.

The Source to Sea Cleanup is one of the largest volunteer-driven trash pick-up events in the region, spanning almost the entire length of the Connecticut River, from Stratford, New Hampshire to Old Saybrook. Sections of the Connecticut River in Deep River and Essex have been clean-up sites for the event in recent years.

As part of the CRC’s event this year, Essex is planning a town-wide clean up on Saturday, Sept. 25, with more details available at an upcoming Sustainable Essex talk, scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 17 at noon. Advance registration for the talk is required on sustainableessex.com.

Kelsey Wentling, a river steward for the CRC, says participation in the Source to Sea Cleanup event is a fun way to connect with other local volunteers while having a positive impact on the environment.

“I think in addition to just doing a good service for your local community, there is also value in it because you get a chance to be outside and connect with your local ecosystem and hopefully also connect with other people in your community,” said Wentling.

In 2020, there were 200 cleanup groups consisting of 1,363 volunteers who collected 34.9 tons of trash along the Connecticut River during the month-long event, according to the CRC’s Cleanup Chronicle.

There were 3,036 plastic bottles, 946 tires, 3,149 aluminum cans, 2,074 glass bottles, and 2,395 nips or small alcohol bottles, among the different types of trash collected.

The environmental impacts of garbage in waterways are multifaceted, said Wentling.

“One is habitat disruption,” she said. “So, having a tire embedded in the river is not natural or good habitat for the bugs or fish or birds that live in the river.

“So that in itself is a disruption to the natural environment, but then on top of that, a lot of these products are made with toxic chemicals that will eventually leach into the waters or they will slowly break down,” continued Wentling.

Not only can water quality be affected by various chemicals, but in the case of Styrofoam or microplastics that break off into small pieces, some wildlife can mistake these pieces for food.

After ingesting the trash, “in some cases that actually makes the animal think that they are full, when in fact they just have a stomach full of plastic and it can actually lead to them starving,” said Wentling.

During the Source to Sea Cleanup event, volunteers are asked to track information on the type and quantity of trash collected. This data informs the CRC’s long-term efforts to advocate for cleaner waterways, primarily through the Stop Trash Before It Starts campaign.

“We’re not focused on just taking it out of the river, but also preventing it from getting there in the first place,” said Wentling.

The CRC is currently working at the state level in Connecticut to help address illegal tire dumping, through a policy framework named Extended Producer Responsibility.

“So, illegal tire dumping is a huge issue in all of our states and in Connecticut, we’re continuing to fight for this Extended Producer Responsibility framework because that would really lead to producers having to take back their tires at no cost to the consumer,” said Wentling. “So, that there is no incentive to dump them illegally.”

For more information on the Source to Sea Cleanup, visit www.ctriver.org.