Clean the Bay Day volunteers net 64,000 pounds of litter for 'common goal'

RICHMOND, Va. -- More than 64,000 pounds of litter was removed across the Commonwealth as part of Clean the Bay Day on Saturday.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation's annual event is the state's largest and longest-running daily litter and shoreline cleanup project.

Nearly 3,000 volunteers cleaned up trash from beaches, parks, shorelines, streams, rivers and lakes at more than 200 sites in Richmond, Hampton Roads, the Eastern Shore, Northern Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley and at Virginia State Parks.

“What began as a discussion among four residents sitting around a kitchen table is now Virginia’s largest cleanup event," Lisa Renee Jennings, the foundation's grassroots coordinator, said "Volunteers cleaned up their communities, experiencing that unique connection from coming together for that common goal of restoring the Bay."

Organizers said items most frequently found were plastic and glass bottles, plastic wrappers, plastic bags and cigarette butts.

But volunteers also came across other items, including a mattress, toilet, car bumper and the carpeted floor of boats.

Oddities found this year included the skull of a dog and toadfish, a gun safe, an empty R-22 refrigerant canister and a bird cage.

More than 168,300 volunteers have removed 7 million pounds of debris from Virginia's shoreline since 1989.

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