Volunteers collect over 910lbs of litter during cleanup on Lytle Creek
By TORRENCE BANKS
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MURFREESBORO, Tennessee (WSMV) — More than 910lbs. of litter was removed during a cleanup on Lytle Creek in Murfreesboro on Sunday. It was hosted by Tennessee Riverkeeper and Mayday Brewery.
Five volunteers removed litter from Lytle Creek and its shoreline to improve the growing plastic pollution problem. These items include 25 bags of trash, as well as bulky items such as various railroad debris, tires, and scrap metal. Plastic bottles, styrofoam, cigarette butts, and various wrappers were the most abundant pieces of litter.
“In 2021, Riverkeeper removed over 10,600 pounds of litter from entering our waterways,” David Whiteside, Founder of nonprofit Tennessee Riverkeeper said. “These events show that a few people can make a difference, and cleanups provide some hope for hundreds of thousands of citizens who are concerned about our blessed river and its tributaries. Clean water is a nonpartisan issue; we are all in this together.”
Organizers of the cleanup say that a lot of trash is washing into Tennessee rivers and creeks. In 2019, Tennessee Riverkeeper launched a microplastics campaign to remove the plastic and other litter from waterways, while also educating the public about this pollution threat.
“Scientists have found that the Tennessee River is polluted by as many as 16,000 to 18,000 microplastic particles per cubic meter,” Whiteside added in a statement. “This pollution occurs when larger plastics break down over time. Experts think that they can last for hundreds of years, and toxicity can ‘biomagnify’ as microplastics build up in the food chain.”
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