Earth Day 2018 Raises the Bar

On April 21, 2018, thousands of Anacostia Watershed Society volunteers mobilized to work together for a cleaner Anacostia River. At 37 different sites along neighborhood parks, streams, and creeks, passionate environmentalists cleaned up trash and debris that would otherwise flow into the river. What an impact we made!

2,606 Volunteers

24.3 tons of Trash

11.7 tons of Recycling

110 Tires

This means that on a single morning of service, those volunteers removed the weight of 72 Elephants out of the Anacostia River!  72 elephants would just about line the perimeter of a football field from head to toe.

This year, the Anacostia Watershed Society focused on one scourge to the river: plastic straws! These non-recyclable, non-biodegradable pieces of litter are ubiquitous at any cleanup. As part of the #StopSuckingcampaign, we collected and counted 4,026 straws and kept them out of the river. An incredible amount of work wasaccomplished by these smiling volunteers, and, with their help, the Anacostia River is that much closer to swimmable and fishable.

Use the link below to download the after action report. And check out the gallery at the bottom of this page, too!