Milwaukee Riverkeeper spring cleanup 2022 removes 100,000 lbs of trash

Saturday’s heat and sunny climate welcomed hundreds of volunteers selecting up trash alongside the Milwaukee River Basin throughout the metropolis’s twenty seventh annual Milwaukee Riverkeeper Spring Cleanup. 

Estefany Montoya, a pupil at St. Thomas Extra Excessive Faculty, walked alongside the Kinnickinnic River with satisfaction as she snatched up stray trash earlier than it drifted into the river within the Pulaski Park neighborhood.  

“I grew up on this neighborhood,” Montoya mentioned. “It feels good strolling round and pondering of previous reminiscences right here whereas I am additionally cleansing it and making it a greater place.” 

Round 4,300 volunteers all through 36 organizations participated in Saturday’s cleanup, eradicating an estimated 100,000 kilos of trash alongside the Milwaukee River, Menomonee River, Kinnickinnic River and close by neighborhoods. 

“What occurs yearly is the snow piles up and we overlook briefly concerning the trash and litter and particles,” mentioned Anne Michalski, inventive director at Milwaukee Riverkeeper. “Because the snow begins to soften, we understand what a difficulty it’s once more.” 

The occasion extends 800 miles all through Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties. 

“All that particles after the snow melts, all of it floats round and flies round and results in our rivers and our waterways,” Michalski mentioned. “The issues we depend on for ingesting, swimming and fishing.”

Travis Hope, president of the KK River Neighbors in Motion plan, led one of many teams that collected trash alongside the Pulaski Park space. A lifelong southside resident, he has volunteered within the spring cleanup for the final eight years.  

The Kinnickinnic River, typically known as the forgotten river, is often probably the most trash-filled sties throughout cleanup occasions. 

“Due to the channel design, all the pieces is pushed in there,” Hope mentioned. “It is mainly an enormous concrete sewer.”

The situations have improved following the town’s river naturalization challenge — a $390 million restoration effort geared toward lowering flooding risks, bettering water high quality and preserving currents from overwhelming storm sewers — however Hope nonetheless sees folks throwing trash out of their automobile home windows within the space. 

“It is nonetheless a difficulty, however now as a result of everyone is extra conscious, there’s much more folks selecting up rubbish,” Hope mentioned. 

After the cleanup, Milwaukee Riverkeeper hosted a waste-free celebration on the Harley Davidson Museum. 

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