Here’s to another Spring Sweep! For 2024, we brought out over 1,200 volunteers to clean 35+ sites around Western New York.
In just two hours, those volunteers were able to remove thousands of pounds of garbage and clean up our shorelines and parks. And across the Great Lakes CleanUP, which Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper helps lead, volunteers for Earth Day events removed tons of trash to prevent it from entering our waterways and beautifying our communities. Just amazing for such a short time of help.
After pouring over all that info in the Clean Swell app, here’s what we found out this year:
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Volunteers in Western New York collected data on 41,645 litter items for our sweeps held around Earth Day
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86 percent of litter data collected was plastic. This is an ongoing trend: last year plastic made up 80 percent of trash removed.
- The top items collected were:
- Cigarette butts (8,111)
- Plastic/foam pieces (5,012)
- Food wrappers (4,339)
- Plastic bottle caps (2,227)
If you participated in the Spring Sweep, please take a few minutes to answer questions in the survey button below. The information helps us improve and adjust the Spring Sweep every year.
Don’t forget that you can still help us out by donating to support our mission of protecting and providing access to our waterways for all.
Did you capture any images from the day? Send them our way! You can submit them at the button below – it’s to a form at the bottom of this page – or email azaremski@bnwaterkeeper.org.
Thanks to our sponsors for supporting our efforts in hosting the 2024 Spring Sweep. Sponsors and supporters this year include the Buffalo Common Council, Rich Family Foundation, Labatt USA, M&T Bank, Wegmans, Scott Lawn Yard, Confer Plastics, and Audacy.
Thanks for your images. If you have others, you can reach out to Adam at adam@bnwaterkeeper.org to share additional images.
