At least hundreds of volunteers pick up garbage in waters across Virginia on June 1st

Saturday saw a host of “Clean the Bay” and the “Clean the River” events across Virginia. Whether it was the 25^th annual Clean the Bay Day sponsored by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation or the 2^nd annual Paddle Green event sponsored by the American Canoe Association (ACA), at least hundreds of Virginians concerned about the health of our state’s waters turned out to pick up garbage that has accumulated.  

While federal and state efforts have focused on Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) of phosphorous, nitrogen, and sediment, efforts to clean up the enormous amount of garbage that accumulates in Virginia’s waters has largely been left to nonprofit organizations and concerned Virginians.

Not only does garbage look aesthetically displeasing in our waters, it also harms aquatic organisms and ultimately, humans. Plastics, to give but one example, can be consumed by aquatic life which can then be eaten by human beings. Did you know your last seafood meal could have also contained micro-bits of plastic? That’s probably not what you were expecting on the ingredients list.  

As time has progressed and more Virginians have become increasingly aware of the effects they can have on our ecosystem through personal garbage disposal behaviors, the amount of garbage that has ended up in Virginia’s waters appears to have decreased. According to Mark Faust, a Clean the Bay Day volunteer, "It's [the Chesapeake Bay] looking better now. It's improving all the time." In other words, the amount of trash that volunteers picked up this year was less than in previous years. But is this because Virginians are dumping less of their garbage in Virginia’s waters?

During the Paddle Green event in Fredericksburg, I was pleasantly surprised by the relatively low levels of garbage that were collected by volunteers. Then again, there are at least four annual ‘river clean ups’ in the Fredericksburg area and the group of volunteers I was with still managed to pick a shopping cart and a bicycle out of the Rappahannock River, just to name two of the biggest items. How does a shopping cart and a bicycle end up in the water?!

While the big items found are often the most discussed, it is actually items such as cigarette butts, plastics, and broken pieces of glass that pose the greatest threats to aquatic life. Because these items are oftentimes small enough to consume, they end up moving through the aquatic food chain and sometimes, into human stomachs. And this is just one of the many negative effects of these smaller items discarded in Virginia’s waters.

Virginia has come a long way in terms of environmental awareness since I moved here some years ago. But we still have a ways to go. More than any single factor, the most effective means by which Virginia can once again reach a ‘pristine’ environment is through educated and mindful individual choices. The problem begins and ends with each of us and the actions we choose.