Organization / Group

Greater Virginia Green Building Council volunteers participated in the trash cleanup and 5K at the 2016 Shiver in the River.

Keeping Virginia Beautiful in Honor of Margaret O’Bryan who lost her fight with kidney and brain cancer Jan. 29, 2016.

Green Aquia, a group of environmentally conscious neighbors in Aquia Harbour in Stafford County, clean up litter and debris that washes down streams through their community before it reaches the Potomac. Volunteers have been out twice so far in 2015.

The April cleanup netted over 1200 lbs of trash, 13 tires, a fire extinguisher, several sports balls, and lawn chairs. They separated 20 garbage bags of recyclable cans and bottles. In all 25 volunteers gave about 3 hours of time cleaning up junk. In addition, one gentleman spent about 8 hours in a canoe floating Austin Run and pulling trash out of the water.

The picture is from the July cleanup. It was a smaller event, but still incredibly successful! 8 volunteers collected about 600 lbs of trash and recyclables, as well as a shopping cart, traffic cones, a bicycle and 5 ties from Austin Run.

RVA Clean Sweep teamed up with Dogtown Dance Theater to clean up 5 blocks around the theater.

RVA Clean Sweep teamed up with Dogtown Dance Theater to clean up 5 blocks around the theater so of course we had to get the dancers in action.

Maggie age 8 helps keep her neighborhood clean!

Earlier this spring a careless landowner in Southampton County filled in a path that ran through a swamp adjacent to the Nottoway River, a Virginia “Scenic” River. The fill was brick and concrete that was inundated with Styrofoam insulation that originated from the demolition of a hog slaughtering/meat packing plant.The next high water event washed hundreds of pounds of Styrofoam out of that swamp into the river. This was repeated several times. Hundreds of pounds of Styrofoam is a LOT of material. As Riverkeeper for the Blackwater and Nottoway Rivers, I spent days on the river picking up what I could. The sad thing is how much could not be retrieved creating an apocalyptic crisis for the wildlife on the river. Its no telling how many critters died from ingesting this material. I’m usually so overjoyed at being on the river and doing what I can to protect it, but I must say those weeks were bout the saddest times I have ever been on the water.

20 volunteers got together to clean up Belle Isle early on a Sunday morning and picked up 21 bags of trash in 90 minutes.