Volunteers clean up Lake Accotink Park
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| Mountains of trash collected by volunteers at Lake Accotink. [Michael A. Richards] |
The Spring Cleanup at Lake Accotink Park on April 2 netted an estimated 975 pounds of trash, reports park supervisor Julie Tahan.
The cleanup was one of many scheduled for Saturday at parks and streams throughout Fairfax County, including Annandale Community Park, Long Branch Stream Valley, Oak Hill Park, and Wakefield Park.
The 178 enthusiastic volunteers at Lake Accotink, undaunted by gray skies and drizzle, “truly made a difference in just a few hours,” Tahan says. Work focused on the lake shoreline, the creeks and stormwater channels that flow into the lake, and the park’s border areas near industrial properties.
Volunteers filled 65 trash bags. Among the items collected: 580 plastic bottles, 135 beverage cans, 140 food wrappers/containers, 130 glass bottles, 150 bottle caps, many tennis balls, one rusted hibachi grill, and lots of small foam pieces that are deadly to wildlife.
Most of those items originated elsewhere in the Accotink Creek watershed and were washed into the lake via storm drains and creeks.
Great work by the volunteers!
I've done roadside and park clean-ups before, and can tell you for certain that every little piece of trash that someone tosses on the ground, drops, ignores, or lets blow away doesn't magically vanish or go "to a better place." It all adds up, and it's more than just an eyesore.
Dispose responsibly.