Feature

-by Michelle Radez, Cleanup Coordinator
Alice Ferguson Foundation

Did you know that Americans go through 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour! Of these, very small percentages are actually recycled. However, the ones that are used for those really cool fleece jackets that we now can't live without, carpets, and non-food plastic containers. Besides manufacturing products, recycling has other benefits, such as helping to reduce the need for additional landfill space, and saving energy. It is more energy efficient to make a container from recycled material than "virgin" material.

Does this mean we should stop buying bottled water or soda? Not in the least. What it does mean is that we should take great care in making every effort to recycle our plastic #1 and #2 drinking containers as well as aluminum and tin cans, and paper. After all, convenience comes with a price.

Besides consciously buying products that are made with recycled materials and then recycling those materials there is another step you can take toward being environmentally proactive. Donate three hours of your time on a Saturday morning in April to help with the 15th annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup.

If you were to take a walk down to the Potomac shoreline you would be appalled by the enormous amounts of trash. You wouldn't be able to take a step without tripping over chicken liver containers, numerous toy balls, and of course plastic bottles. We have had a very wet winter with rain and, yes, even snow! When this precipitation flows down the sidewalks and streets of our local cities and towns, it eventually ends up going into conveniently placed storm drains along the sidewalks. These drains were designed to keep our streets from flooding, not to stop miscellaneous trash from slipping down. The water now mixed with trash, then empties into nearby tributaries of the Potomac or directly into the Potomac itself.

This year, thousands of volunteers will be celebrating the 15th anniversary of the cleanup by picking up trash from over 100 different sites. To commemorate this achievement and to further the education of citizens about the impact we have upon our watershed, we have kicked off an ambitious campaign. We are striving to be "Trash Free in 10 Years". Over the next ten years we will focus on particular kinds of trash that line our tributaries and the river's shoreline. We feel if we gather trash data we, can better influence and educate citizens about their behaviors. This year we are asking all sites to collect, sort, and tally plastic drinking bottles. We are also asking that as many sites that are able to, recycle the clean bottles.

Last year, 4000 volunteers at 127 different cleanup sites pulled out a whopping 122 tons of trash! We hope that will year prove to be just as productive. Join us on Saturday, April 5th, 9am-12noon, to help cleanup the Potomac watershed. Sites will be listed online by March 1st, at www.PotomacCleanup.org. To volunteer, contact the organization or person listed as the site coordinator. If you would like to host a new cleanup site not listed online or donate supplies or funds to the cleanup effort, please contact us at 301-292-6665 or Email PotomacCleanup@fergusonfoundation.org.