It was a day full of ominous clouds and potential for big, quick rainfall. Luckily, we were given mercy by the weather and a gentle breeze sweeping the coastline of the Delaware River, just south of the Tacony Palmyra Bridge in Philadelphia. The group was organized by United By Blue, Riverfront North, Philly Water Dept and Keep Philadelphia Beautiful. We collected almost 3000 pounds of trash and recycling in 2 hours and were rewarded afterward with ice cream from Little Baby's.

 

When arriving at the starting point, the Frankford Boat Launch, it was nice to see a well-maintained, flower lined walking/bike path going in either direction parallel to the river. This path is part of a huge project to eventually connect from Maine down to Florida. The amount of plastic bottles, straws, endless pieces of styrofoam and plastic bags we collected are from runoff further inland than from people hanging out along the river. This trash comes mainly from our city sewers and drains into the river. This river is where we get our city's drinking water. Many people don't think to connect this. It felt pretty good among all of us to go a bit farther than our own homes to enhance and protect our local environment.