The Source to Sea Cleanup is a watershed wide community initiative spanning four states - NH, VT, MA, & CT.
As part of the Connecticut River Conservancy's Source to Sea Cleanup, thousands of volunteers work together for a few hours to eliminate trash and discarded items from our rivers and riverbanks to improve the health and safety of our watershed!
This year, BSC teamed up with Jorge Perez, co-founder of PATCH (People Aligning to Create Harmony), to clean up a portion of the riverfront along the Mill River in Springfield MA.
A lot of litter had accumulated from pedestrians and cars tossing waste on the side of the road, and even dumping bags of trash and other unwanted items. Our team filled over twenty trash bags with bottles, cans, food wrappers, packaging, and a variety of other items in just a few hours, while also removing two tires and two mattresses.
A special thank you to Mr. Alberto, owner of an ice cream cart in Springfield; he saw us cleaning up the river and stopped to give us free ice cream! "El sr Alberto del carrito de los helados". In addition, we would like to thank PATCH for finding a cleanup location and coordinating with the community, as well as the Springfield DPW for disposing of the trash collected.