Valley News – Connecticut River cleanup scheduled for Saturday

LEBANON – Dozens of volunteers are expected to help clean up 410 miles of shoreline in the Connecticut River Basin this weekend as part of the Connecticut River Conservancy’s 25th annual “Source to Sea” event.

Volunteers are welcome to pick up trash anywhere, but the Conservancy has listed the upper valley sites that need attention along the river in Orford, Lyme, Norwich, West Lebanon, Plainfield, Claremont, and Charlestown. Volunteers can take on more responsibility and become a “group leader”. They then recruit and organize other volunteers and decide whether they prefer to keep their group private or open it up to the community.

The Conservancy also invites residents to identify other areas that require special attention.

Last year’s cleanup spanned the entire month of September due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 1,300 volunteers collected nearly 35 tons of garbage. This included 946 tires, 14 mattresses, 8,000 pounds of junk and 10,654 beverage containers.

Participants can register on www.cdriver.org/cleanup then receive instructions by e-mail.