Service Project Update: Wilson Park Cleanup

VMN SW Piedmont Chapter Cleans Up J. Frank Wilson Park as Part of the “Clean Virginia Waterways” and “International Coastal Cleanup”

Noel Boaz

Eleven volunteers (5 Virginia Master Naturalists and 6 community members) took part in a cleanup of J. Frank Wilson Park in Martinsville on Saturday, August 21, 2021, in cooperation with Clean Virginia Waterways (Longwood College), in turn a part of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. Three gloved and masked teams armed with mechanical-arm “grabbers” and bags designated for trash and recyclables collected 8 bags weighing a total of 21 pounds over a period of 2 1/2 hours. One member of each team recorded the trash collected on a data sheet. Data sheets were then complied and reported to the national Ocean Conservancy database via Longwood University, as well as being reported to the online mobile app Clean Swell. 

Image of Appreciation Certificate to VMN SW Piedmont Chapter from Clean Virginia Waterways

After the cleanup, non-recyclable trash was deposited in city receptacles. Recyclable materials were washed and sorted. Plastic “numbers” which refer to the resins used in plastic manufacture, were used for sorting. Number 1 (PETE or Polyethylene Terephthalate) plastic (mainly “clear” beverage bottles) was also the number 1 item recovered in our cleanup. Teams “grabbed” 56 of these, which along with Number 2 (HDPE or High Density Polyethylene) plastic (mainly “opaque” containers), and aluminum cans, were put into Martinsville city recycling containers on Market Street. Glass beverage bottles were also a common item. There were 26 of these. They were sorted by color (clear, green, and brown) and taken to the recycling station on Old South Boston Road in Danville. 

40% of the litter that our teams picked up in J. Frank Wilson Park were beverage containers (140 plastic and metal pieces out of a total of 350 pieces). This figure agrees with the general 40-60% drink-container composition of litter nationwide in states without returnable deposit “bottle laws” (https://www.industryweek.com/the-economy/regulations/article/22008100/why-are-there-so-few-states-with-bottle-bill-laws). The 10 states that have instituted such laws have had marked success in increasing recycling rates of glass, aluminum, and Number 1 plastic and reducing their percentages in landfills. In one such state, California, the beverage container recycling rate is 85 percent statewide, and includes a nearly 100 percent recycling rate for aluminum beverage containers (https://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/publiced/earthday/what/).

Number 4 (LDPE  or Low Density Polyethylene) plastic (mainly grocery bags) were put into the recycle bins at the Kroger store in Martinsville. They can also be recycled at Danville recycling centers. 

Recycling Number 3 plastic (V or PVC  or Vinyl) was a problem. This plastic contains phthalate and DEHA chemical carcinogens (when in high concentrations). The closest place that we could find to recycle the few pieces of No. 3 litter that we collected was an industrial vinyl company site north of Charlottesville. One item in this category, a vinyl balloon with a valve, was listed as one of our “most unusual” items. Because of the distance involved in recycling, the Number 3 plastic that we collected unfortunately went into the trash. 

Following the cleanup, our team heard a talk by local Kroger manager, Mohammad Zaghab, about the company’s ongoing efforts to reduce and eventually eliminate No. 4 plastic bags from their stores. The store has recycling bins for plastic grocery bags in the front of their stores and encourages everyone to make use of them.

After a hard afternoon of cleaning the park, and to underscore the ultimate benefits of Clean Virginia Waterways, volunteers snacked on barbequed fresh East Coast oysters (Crassostrea virginica), kindly supplied by the Kroger Company. Healthy freshwater runoff from the Smith, Dan, and Roanoke Rivers ensure the enduring environmental quality of the shell beds of these oysters in Albemarle Pamlico Sound, North Carolina (https://apnep.nc.gov/our-work/restore/oyster-protection-restoration#:~:text=The%20people%20of%20eastern%20North%20Carolina%20have%20a,bushels%20%285.6%20million%20lbs%29%20being%20harvested%20in%201889).