Last week I took a bus ride to Columbia last week with a group I am involved in through work. Riding up high in that bus gives you an entirely different perspective on the road. As we were riding along I was even more astounded by the amount of trash that litters the side of the road all the way from Charleston to Columbia. Many of these areas were wetlands and swamps and I can only assume when we get more rain, much of this trash will find its way into our rivers and waterways. As I a was talking with one of the members of our group, we were both just amazed at how many people it took to create that much trash and the mentality of people to throw garbage out the window of your car.
While we probably can’t do much to change this behavior of these individuals, we can all do our part to help keep our waters clean. It starts with simple things like keeping an empty trash bag in the boat for when you come across trash. Just taking an extra moment to pick up an item here and an item there will go a long way to helping keep our waters the way they were intended to be. With as many boats as we have on our waterways these days, if everyone had this mindset the trash would stand no chance.
Several years ago the Summerville Saltwater Anglers Club made the decision to adopt the upper Ashley River as an area we would take the time to help try and keep clean. If anyone has ever been on the upper end of the river the amount of trash is truly saddening. This effort has grown each year and last year the club removed 3.2 tons of trash in only 2.5 hours and could have easily exceeded that number with more help. Each year this event has grown and expanded out beyond the club. Triangle Char and Bar on Dorchester Road has even gotten involved to provide box lunches to everyone at the end of the clean up. This years event will be held on Saturday March 12th from 10:00am to 3:00pm and is open to anyone who would like to come and help out.
For anyone interested here are a couple of links to give you some more information