Saturday, October 2, 2010
Sugar Creek Missouri River Clean-up 2010
La Benite Park, Sugar Creek, MO
This was our eighth year hosting a massive Missouri River clean-up in the Kansas City area. Each year it gets bigger, our list of partners grows, and the amount of trash removed from the river continues to be staggering. This year 380 volunteers joined the effort.
We cleaned 11 miles of the Missouri River from rivermile 348 to rivermile 359. Two huge groups from both Cargill and Shawnee Mission High School showed up in full force early Saturday morning to get a head start on the cleaning festivities. Many other school groups from Rockhurst, Park University and UMKC arrived to experience the Missouri River, as well as do their part to improve the river. Education in action! That's what it's all about!
Getting this many people out on the river in one morning is impossible without the help of our boat piloting partners. This year we had help from our good friends at Living Lands & Waters, the organization that inspired Missouri River Relief to take action on our 
river, the Mo. Dept. of Conservation, EPA, Burns and McDonnell, Rivermiles and one local boater who showed up with some friends to help us with the trash haul in the afternoon. Every little bit of help is appreciated! As our crew likes to say, many hands make light work.
After such a high-water year, we were surprised at the length of our trash tally - not very long. But upon closer inspection, the numbers are still in the amount of plastic filled Stream Team bags that were removed from the banks of the river. Or maybe, just maybe... this massive trash problem is getting better! The more we educate people about our disposable plastic addiction & how littering affects the wildlife, streams & rivers, the more we all benefit from a healthier environment.
Thank you for your support Kansas City! & to our wonderful list of Sponsors & Partners whose help keeps this event one of the most successful, year after year.
Trash Tally!!!!
247 large Bags of Trash
39 Tires
12 chunks o’ Styrofoam
1 Foam Treetrunk
8 Coolers
7 Plastic Buckets
4 – 55-gallon Metal Drums
11 – 55-gallon Plastic Barrels
4 – 20-gallon barrels
4 Refrigerators
10 chunks o’ Plastic
1 – 8-foot PVC Pipe
1 Keg
1 Pig Pen?
10’ x 20’ honeycomb Landscaping Bank Stabilizer
4 Plastic Poles
1 Picnic Table
2 Buoys
5 Gas Cans
1 Paint Can
1 Plastic kid’s Slide
3 Propane Tanks
½ of a Couch
2 Chairs
1 Sheet Metal panel 4’x 8’
1 Steel Cable
1 T-Post
2 Showerwalls
1 - 8’ Florescent Bulb
1 Plastic Grenade
A whole Bunch of Balls
1 Syringe
1 Stereo Speaker
1 small Plastic Buffalo
1 plastic Hard Hat
1 unpermitted Landfill full of household trash
To see more photos of this event, click here! All photos by Alicia Pigg, thank you Alicia!
