Big Sweep starts today
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on September 25, 2016 1:45 AM
People will be out in full force for two weeks beginning today picking up trash around the county during the 2016 Wayne Big Sweep.
Anyone can help clean, said local coordinator Barbara Byers. It could be a business, civic organization, school groups, scouts, 4-H clubs and families.
And they can clean anywhere they want.
"We have areas such as Cliffs of the Neuse State Park, Waynesborough Park and behind the mall," she said.
"A lot of people will clean around a place that means a lot to them or some place they know has a lot of trash. In past years, people have also cleaned Herman Park and even the highways. Our afterschool groups clean around the schools."
Wayne Big Sweep will take place through Oct. 8.
Ms. Byers said during last year's Wayne Big Sweep, 116 volunteers cleaned four miles and nine sites, picking up 878 pounds of trash.
"We found computer screens and TVs," she said. "One group at the boat ramp on Stevens Mill found 11 animal skeletons. At the fairgrounds, they found shotgun shells."
The top 11 items found at the 2015 Wayne Big Sweep were cigarettes/cigarette filters, food wrappers/containers, paper pieces, paper bags, plastic pieces, plastic grocery bags, glass beverage bottles, plastic beverage bottles, beverage cans, construction materials and straws and stirrers.
Wayne County has participated in the litter cleanup for more than 25 years.
Ms. Byers said that everything in the watershed eventually ends up in the ocean, which can harm the sea life.
"That plastic bag you get when you go grocery shopping gets blown out, ends up in a ditch and can end up in the Neuse River and eventually empties into the ocean, where it floats around," she said. "There are tons of plastic floating in the ocean.
"Plastic bags in particular look like jellyfish and animals that feed on jellyfish can become entangled in them or eat them, and the bags don't go through their system and they die.
"Birds will eat little bits of plastic. Plastic breaks down over time when it's exposed to water and sun. Birds eat it, and it doesn't move through their system and they literally starve to death because they don't have room in their stomach because it's full of plastic."
Anyone wanting to volunteer to help with the cleanup should call Ms. Byers at 919-731-1527. Volunteers will get garbage bags, gloves and data cards.
This year, there's also an app for the phone that lets you record the items your group picks up and send it straight to the Ocean Conservancy, which keeps track of information across the nation.