Collect, Count, and Advocate
Tracking litter data to empower real solutions through cleanups across Western New York.
Spring Sweep
Every April we host one of the largest cleanup events in the Western New York region – the Spring Sweep. Registration opens in March, sign up for our newsletter to get updates!
Solo Sweep
Interested in volunteering to cleanup before or after the Spring Sweep? Participate in a Solo Sweep anywhere, anytime, and track your findings.
What is a Solo Sweep?
A Solo Sweep is a cleanup effort organized by an individual or small group that is completed without BNW’s direct coordination, although we are always here for support! You can clean up anywhere, anytime, and track the litter you find using the Ocean Conservancy’s Clean Swell app.
Remember, you must use BNW in your group name (ie. BNW Smith Family) so we can track your efforts as a Solo Sweep!
A key component of our cleanups is not only removing litter, but also tracking the types of litter using the Ocean Conservancy’s Clean Swell app, which directly connects the information we collect here locally to the largest marine debris database in the world, TIDES.
This allows our data to be instantly publicly accessible and helps to support our work to address the root causes of litter pollution here locally and globally.
Will you join us in this effort by participating in your own Solo Sweep?
Why is it important to track litter you find?
Data is power! We know litter pollution threatens our drinking water, wildlife, the health of our ecosystems, and our economy – which is why we dedicate our time to remove it – but we can never solve the issue without data.
Thanks to the litter data collected by cleanup volunteers like yourself, we can track the types, location, and quantity of trash being found throughout our watershed. We can use this data to support, fund, and empower community driven solutions that address local issues, while connecting us to leaders around the world dedicated to eliminating litter pollution.
Litter data can also strengthen policy initiatives focused on holding producers accountable and banning specific types of waste like the recently passed polystyrene foam ban and the plastic bag ban in New York State. It also was instrumental for the New York Attorney General in bringing a case against PepsiCo. for litter found throughout the Buffalo River.
Spring Sweep
Spring Sweep 2024, was a huge success!
- 1,233 volunteers came out to cleanup
- removed trash at 40 sites throughout the Niagara River/Lake Erie Watershed
- an estimated 10,460 pounds collected during the 2024 Spring Sweep
We have continued to promote our digital data collection efforts using the Clean Swell app, and volunteers recorded over 41,000 pieces of trash this year.
See Pictures from the 2024 Sweep!
Check out the site map below for places you could visit to cleanup during a Solo Sweep.
Waterway Cleanup FAQ
Great Lakes CleanUP
The Spring Sweep is also part of the Great Lakes CleanUP, a weeklong trash removal effort created in partnership with 18 other groups and organizations from around the Great Lakes basin. These dedicated partners organize thousands of volunteers to remove trash, collect litter data, and keep our waterways clean.
