Cleaning a River
I admit, I have been procrastinating writing this article, because it is really not pleasant!
When I signed up for the Earth Day River Cleaning with Hands on Tokyo I assumed I was going to have a nice day in the outdoors picking up trash and leaving a cleaner river with a feeling of having accomplished something and having done something good. Boy, was I wrong!
On the day, last Saturday, we gathered in front of Yahiro Station close to the Arakawa (‘kawa’ means ‘river’) at 10:15. We were a big group of almost 40 people so it took a while for everyone to sign in before we could leave for the river.
When we arrived at the Arakawa we started with instructions, especially about the dangers of cleaning next to the river bed. Some dangers like falling into the river and stirring up wildlife I expected, not so much getting impaled by plants (a kind of bamboo?), but well. Then they also explained that we might find syringes or bottles filled with pee or other unpleasant liquids. We should never touch the first, or open the second. In general, we should wear our gloves and use our tongs to pick up trash.
We were also instructed on where to find trash to pick up, but this was not really necessary to be honest.
Taking a few steps towards the river was enough to start finding a lot of it. I was in the rear of the group and I think I didn’t get further than 5 meters up river.
There was so much trash, I couldn’t believe it! They had told us that another group had been here the day before us, and still…
There were layers and layer! Small pieces of plastic everywhere on the ground, plastic bags in the earth and plastic strings of some kind rapped around the vegetation. We also found some broken glass, cans new and old. Someone had thrown an air-conditioner out on the river bank. Plastic boxes, underwear, bigger metal-parts of something (maybe a bike), a rotten bag made of some cloth-material. I found a toothbrush, plastic toothpicks, plastic straws, plastic packaging,… But the plastic bags were the worst! Partially filled with dirt and sand, getting stuck, breaking into small pieces when we were trying to pick them up… It was such a mess!
And then the time was up. I would never have thought! Not only hadn’t I gotten much further than a few steps, I hadn’t even managed to get all the trash covering those few meters! I kept picking up things here and there on the way back, managed to fall to the rear of the retrieving group again, and still… I cannot believe how much I had to leave behind. And not because we didn’t pick up what we could. We did!
Hands on Tokyo counted for our waste collected:
Burnable waste: 21 bags (45L)
PET (plastic) bottles: 8 bags (45L)
Glass bottles: 7 bags (25L)
Cans: 3 bags (25L)
I am still shocked thinking about it!
Where does all the trash come from?
Well some of it was thrown away there. Streets run next to and over the river, homeless live along the river side,… But a lot of it has just come from the city! Trash that hasn’t been disposed of properly gets picked up by the wind, ends up in smaller waterways and accumulates. And what you end up with is a river bank build of trash, plastic in the river, heading towards the ocean, polluting the water and our planet.
We worked hard, but this Earth Day project in itself didn’t do much for the earth. What it did was open eyes, mine for sure! We need to really take better care of our planet, use less plastics and disposable one-use items. We need to make sure that our trash gets disposed of with care, and recycled what can be. And still, we also need to clean up the mess we already made!
While one project with a few people picking up trash for a single hour cannot achieve much, many people helping together, doing this over and over again, not just out there at the rivers, but starting within the cities, picking up trash before it starts it’s journey to the ocean, can achieve more.
From now on I want to do more. And if that means taking a garbage bag and gloves with me when I go out and just picking up what I see, so be it.
There are also many more organisations that organise clean ups. For Tokyo there is for instance the Arakawa River Clean-aid Forum. They are a non-profit organisation who gather participants for volunteer cleanup activities along the Arakawa (mainly during autumn) and strive to make people aware of the importance of protecting our environment.
There is also Pirika, an app that is available worldwide and encourages trash picking for individuals and groups and also aids in organising events.
I am sure that, wherever you are, there is a way to help when you want to. Just, when picking up trash by yourself, don’t touch any syringes, don’t open bottles filled with liquids, and be careful with sharp objects and the flora and fauna around you.
Otherwise, we need as many helpers as we can get to clean up, or at least to stop trashing our planet!
