Volunteers Pull Tons Of Trash Out Of River And Watershed

The weights are in, and organizers say the 31st Annual Great Texas River Clean Up held on March 5 was the most successful to date.

More than 700 volunteers picked up trash and debris in and along the Upper San Marcos River to Stokes Park, Purgatory Creek, Sink Creek, Sessom Creek, Willow Creek and Cottonwood Creek.

• Total Trash: 17,080 pounds
• Total Recycling: 7,350 pounds; 77 tires

The Texas River Protection Association and the San Marcos River Foundation had over 100 volunteer canoeists that cleaned another 60 miles of the San Marcos River from Stokes Park in San Marcos to Palmetto Park.

• Total Trash: 40 cubic yards
• Total Recycling: 770 pounds; 40 tires

The Students of Sustainability, a Texas State University student organization, did an audit of the litter that was brought in from Cottonwood Creek which runs along IH-35 by the outlet mall and found that plastic bottles and plastic retail bags made up over half of the litter collected.

This year, as well as last, a strong focus of the cleanup revolved around educating the volunteers on the source of the trash in the watersheds. Over 60 watershed leaders and crew leaders were trained by the city and university storm water managers on the effect of litter dropped on the streets and lawns washing to our rivers and creeks through storm water runoff. This message was given to the more than 700 volunteers, showing the connection between our urbanized areas and our natural waterways.

To help minimize the amount of trash between the annual river clean up, Keep San Marcos Beautiful hosts Hot Spot cleanups on the first Saturday of each month.

“We need all the help we can get. Once a year is not enough to control the amount of litter left on the ground,” said Amy Kirwin, City of San Marcos Community Enhancement Program Manager.

To receive notifications for cleanups, contact Kirwin at akirwin@sanmarcostx.gov.

The 31st Annual Great Texas River Cleanup was a collaboration of TG Canoes and Kayaks, Texas River Protection Association, San Marcos River Foundation, the City of San Marcos, Texas State University and the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority.  Multiple donors helped make the event possible: CH2M, Chamber of Commerce, Edwards Aquifer Authority, Lions Club, Clean Earth Systems and Alpha Paving Industries; as well as SurPowr, HEB, Green Guy Recycling, GBRA, KDF Enterprises, Gruene Env, Geosolutions, IDS (Tymco), Greater San Marcos Partnership, Color Mix, Carson Properties, Abatix, Stericycle, Honda San Marcos, David Peterson, L&L Septic and Portable Toilets.