By Karen Buck, Friends of the Malden River
What do you get when you add 70 people to the Malden River with one task?
An even score of seventy bags of trash, barnacle covered bicycle, car seat springs, multitudes of miscellaneous car parts and unidentified objects, 2 tractor tires and 5 automobile tires, shopping carts, furniture, lots of balls, a drone video, a poem, and 3 coconuts.
And smiles of camaraderie and occasional looks of dismay as the bags and piles accumulate.
On April 7th, Tisch College of Civic Life brought Tufts University athletes of the Rowing, Swim and Dive Teams to join the Friends of the Malden River for a third annual Malden River Cleanup at River’s Edge. This year, Gentle Giant Rowing Club and Gentle Giant Moving Company joined the collaborative effort. All combined, there were over 70 people scouring the banks and waters of the Malden River.
Malden High School Eco-Club
Seventy stuffed garbage bags were full of everyday consumer trash: styrofoam, snack wrappers, plastic bags, and plastic bottles. Where does this trash come from? Mostly, it is from street litter that has been swept through the storm water drain system. The items such as tires, car parts, shopping carts are dumped purposely into our rivers.
A member of the Woman’s Tufts Rowing Team observed, “There was an enormous amount of bottle caps.”
Frank Roche, Tufts University Civic Life Coordinator of Athletics
Frank Roche, Civic Life Coordinator of Athletics, commented, “Tufts athletes are involved in a number of community initiatives, but the Malden River Cleanup is especially important given that our rowing athletes train and compete on it almost every day. As we literally get into the weeds, it’s amazing the amount of trash that is hidden around the riverbank and I think our athletes feel a sense of responsibility to leaving the area better than they found it.”
“I don’t know why, but this is sorta fun.” said one Tufts University student athlete.
Photos from the April 7th cleanup. Top left is the Upper Malden River Cache of Trash.
What Do We Need Now? An updated and modern bottle bill! Increase the redemption value to a dime and include most single-use bottles!
What Can You Do to Help the Bottle Bill?
Find pictures of littered bottles and cans from previous clean ups or keep an eye out for photo opportunities in the coming weeks
Do you have a Twitter/X account? Post (see guidelines below) and send a message to YOUR own Representative and Senator (look them up here) – be sure to tag @StoryofStuff & @JustZeroOrg
Your post should have the following:
Images of littered bottles and cans
1-2 sentences on why this means we should update the bottle bill and/or switch to reuse
The hashtag #MABottleBill
It should be targeted to your representative and senator. If they are not on X use any of the following @RepMichlewitz @senatorbarrett @jeffroy @RonMariano
Tag @Storyofstuff and @JustZeroOrg
