BRATTLEBORO — Registration is now open for the 25th annual Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC) Source to Sea Cleanup from Friday, Sept. 24 to Sunday, Sept. 26.
The event - organized in all four states of the 410-mile Connecticut River basin - is one of the largest river cleanups in the country, as thousands of volunteers remove trash along rivers, streams, parks, boat launches, trails, and other public venues.
Anyone interested in getting dirty for cleaner rivers can get more information and register at ctriver.org/cleanup.
“For our 25th anniversary, we wanted to make this year's Cleanup a truly community-driven event,” Stacey Lennard, CRC's cleanup coordinator, said in a news release, noting that the event “strengthens community while cleaning up our rivers and streams.”
CRC equips volunteers with the tools needed to get the job done. A new, streamlined registration process will allow anyone to report a site in need of trash removal, start a cleanup group, or find a local volunteer group to join.
Groups can clean up anywhere trash is found, or they can adopt one of the reported trash sites in need of cleaning. Group leaders can order free gloves and trash bags from CRC through the same system.
Participants are also encouraged to share photos and videos of their experience using the hashtag #RiverWitness on social media.
Group leaders are an essential part of the Source to Sea Cleanup, responsible for bringing together a team of volunteers, scouting a cleanup site and collecting, disposing, and tallying trash. Cleanup volunteers can use the a smartphone app to tally trash.
More than 1,300 volunteers participated in last year's Source to Sea Cleanup. Two hundred groups collected 34.9 tons of trash along 262 miles of river, according to CRC's trash tallies.
To learn more about CRC, visit ctriver.org.