Are you a Source to Sea Cleanup Group Leader or interested in becoming one? We’re here to help! We’re offering a series of help sessions in August for those in need of assistance.

• Watch 2021 Cleanup Coffee Hours. The most relevant one for this year is Trash Disposal and Tallies.

Identifying where you and your team will clean is typically the first step volunteer leaders take prior to registering for the Cleanup. Good sites can usually be visually identified by a walk or paddle along the river. It is important to visit the site before the Cleanup to identify potential hazards and ensure the safety of all volunteers. Sites need to be safe and accessible for all group volunteers, keeping in mind their ages and abilities. If you are managing a group of children, please review our Child Safety Guidelines and provide Child Waivers to parents/guardians as needed.

Need help finding a site? You can:

• Check out our map of adoptable sites to find a site near you. Note: these are sites that have been reported to us. You may know of other dirty sites and are welcome to choose one of your own. Be sure to scout your site before bringing a group out so you understand current conditions.
• Call your Town Manager — they may be able to make a suggestion and your cleanup is helpful to your city, so they should welcome your call!
• If you are still having trouble or have questions, get in touch — cleanup@ctriver.org or 413-772-2020 x211.

Here’s a video demonstrating best practices in preparing for your Cleanup – Scouting/Sorting/Saftey.

Group sizes can range from a couple of people to several hundred volunteers. You can choose to keep your group private (CLOSED) with friends and family or invite the wider community to sign up (OPEN). Prior to the cleanup day, each group member will need to complete the registration and waiver form. If you have children in your group, please review our Child Safety Guidelines and provide Child Waivers to parents/guardians as needed.

Make prep work easier by dividing up responsibilities. Create a list of various jobs that groups or individuals can do while cleaning. Possible assignments include:

• Arranging for trash pickup (details below)
• Scouting your trash site
• Advertising the cleanup
• Recording the group’s Trash Tally
  
• Sorting out recyclables
• Photographing the day — learn more about being a #RiverWitness
  

Consider the ages and abilities of your volunteers and try to ensure that each person feels their contribution is worthwhile.

We encourage all of our Source to Sea volunteers to consider limiting the transportation footprint of their cleanup and taking other steps for a climate-friendly cleanup!

Advice for a Climate-Friendly cleanup:

• Choose cleanup sites that are close to where you live
• If possible, walk or bike to your cleanup site
• Check local bus systems for public transportation options
• Carpool with friends and family when vehicle travel is necessary
• Explore school bus rental options if your group has enough volunteers
• Replace plastic trash bags with re-purposed or compostable bags (we find that local breweries and farm animal feed stores are usually really happy to offer used grain bags for our cleanups!)
• Replace single-use plastic gloves with reusable gloves
• Sort what you collect and recycle everything you can

We strongly encourage all groups to follow a DIY approach for supplies. Before you head out to get dirty for cleaner rivers, make sure each member of your group has the following:

• Gloves – rubber or work gloves
• 2 waste bags – 1 for trash and 1 for recyclables
• Smart-phone with the Clean Swell app to track your trash or the Trash Tally form
• Face mask (optional)
• Hand sanitizer (optional)

Group leaders wishing to order supplies from CRC may do so with the Supply Order form (find a link to the supply order form in your Registration Confirmation email). Fall Cleanups only. Please submit at least 2 weeks before your cleanup date.  Supplies will be available for pickup at our Greenfield office (15 Bank Row, Greenfield, MA) or can be shipped to your designated location.

It’s important to have a plan for where you will dispose of the trash and turn in recyclables as far in advance as possible.

CRC has provided a list of towns willing to accept trash & recyclables as well as dumpsters available for trash disposal. Please only dispose of trash collected from the Source to Sea Cleanup and be sure to call ahead (at least a month in advance).

If your town is not on our partners list, please make a request — many municipalities will generously donate a dumpster or trash pickup services. You should also find out what the town will recycle and how separation should be handled.

If your site has lots of tires, contact the Bridgestone Tires4ward tire recycling program for FREE tire pickup and recycling services. You must apply about one month before your cleanup to participate.

Can’t secure services? If after multiple attempts you are still having trouble finding ways to dispose of your trash/recyclables, please contact us at cleanup@ctriver.org or 413-772-2020 x211.

Town Partners (Don’t see your town here? Contact your Department of Public Works and ask them to support your Cleanup efforts!)

• Massachusetts
  • Agawam Dept of Public Works | 413-821-0600
  • Easthampton Public Works | 413-529-1400 x410
  • Greenfield Department of Public Works | 413-772-1528
  • Holyoke Dept of Public Works | 413-322-5645. Possible to arrange pick-ups.
  • Leverett Transfer Station | 413-549-1062
  • Longmeadow Dept of Public Works | 413-567-3400
  • Montague Transfer Station | 413-863-3213
  • Northampton DPW | 413-587-1570. CONTACT CRC FOR DISPOSAL SPECIFICS.
  • South Hadley Conservation Administrator, Anne Capra | 413-538-5017 x208
• New Hampshire
  • Lebanon DPW | 603-448-3112
• Vermont
  • Brattleboro, Windham Solid Waste Management District | 802-257-0272

Dumpster Locations: Thanks to the generosity of our sponsor, USA Waste & Recycling, dumpsters can be placed at locations with heavy trash volume on Cleanup days. Locations will be added here as they become known.

Contact April Regan at USA Waste & Recycling to make arrangements for additional locations: 860-746-3299 x2478. Please give at least 1 week advance notice.

Meet or call your team early in the planning season to discuss goals, available resources, and outstanding needs. Check out whether there are other groups nearby and ask them if they’d like to share resources, ideas, or press. Some teams set goals for their cleanups, such as seeing how much they can recycle, promoting the importance of a local stream or increasing their group’s visibility to the community. Whatever you decide to do, the most important thing to remember is be safe and have fun!

Before you and your group start cleaning, plan to gather to touch base and motivate each other. If you are a group leader, remind your group members to:

• Look out for and avoid hazards (such as poison ivy, ticks, or unstable banks)
• Assign one or more person to track the trash you find using the CleanSwell app or Trash Tally form
• Recycle what you can and dispose of all other trash
• Report hazardous materials to the group leader who will then report it officially
• Use a physically distant version of the “buddy system”
• Wear a personal floatation device if you’re using boats or wading deeper than knee level
• Review our Child Safety Guidelines if you have children in your group  and provide Child Waivers to parents/guardians as needed.

Be sure to bring a first aid kit and have a plan for how you will communicate with each other throughout the day —cell phones, walkie-talkies, or even a one-time use phone with a number just for that day. Be sure to thank everyone for coming and head out on a high note!

We love to highlight your group’s work. As you take photos please:

• Try to take clear, close-up photos focused on faces, river backgrounds, and active trash collection — bonus points for people wearing Cleanup shirts!
• Label them with photographer credit, the names of those pictured and the location of the photo
• Make sure you and any accompanying minors have signed photo releases as part of the waiver, otherwise we cannot publish them on our website or in the Cleanup Chronicle

Submit your photos to the #RiverWitness campaign and your images will support important advocacy work. As a #RiverWitness, you can help keep the rivers clean and lend your voice to the important advocacy work across the four Connecticut River states.

If your group finds needles or other sharps you should either :

• Leave it in place and report location to someone who is trained and authorized to deal with sharps (police, fire or health department, etc.), or
• Make sure only adults handle and dispose of safely.
• Process for picking up sharps: wear gloves > open the sharps container and set it down next to the sharps > use tongs to pick up the sharps and place into the container > close the container.
• If you do not have access to a sharps container, place sharps in a puncture-resistant container such as a rigid plastic bottle (laundry detergent) or coffee can with a secure cap.
• Do not dispose of such materials with your regular trash. Find proper disposal locations near you.

If your group finds anything you think might be hazardous or volatile, immediately report it to CRC and your State Emergency Response Contact. DO NOT move or otherwise disturb the material — leave it ‘as found.’ Make a note of the location or mark the site for the response team. Non-emergencies and complaints may be reported on the Monday following the Cleanup. Learn more about reporting spills and environmental violations.

State Emergency Response Contacts

• New Hampshire
• Vermont
• Massachusetts
• Connecticut

Your group may come across existing living spaces in or near your cleanup site. Our goal is to assist in cleaning up the area only where appropriate and not to disturb active homes. If you come across a living space or someone experiencing homelessness, please take the following actions:

• Clean areas in groups of three people or more.
• If you see a tent, announce your presence – ie: shout out “Cleanup crew is here!” This sends a message that you respect their privacy, that you are not the police, or someone coming to do harm.
• If a person experiencing homelessness is at the site, introduce yourself and explain the purpose of the cleanup and what you are doing there today. Ask if they would like any unwanted items removed and assist with cleaning up such objects.
• If no one is on the premises, only take what is clearly waste and do not remove any clothing, living structures or tents, cooking implements, etc. If you are unsure, leave the items in place.
• If appropriate, be prepared to share resources, such as information for shelters in your local community.
• If you do have a chance to visit the site before your cleanup day, bring some trash bags with you and offer the option for them to put aside what they’d like removed and let them know the date that you will be back to clean up.

Thank you for your efforts!

Waivers: Individual volunteers – both children and adults – who have pre-registered, will have already submitted their waivers online. You may have volunteers who join at the last minute: Please have them complete the online registration form or print a few paper forms (see below) to bring on Cleanup day. Please return paper forms to: CRC, S2S Cleanup, 15 Bank Row, Greenfield, MA 01301.

• Adult waiver
• Youth waiver

Trash Tally: Your Trash Tally data helps us understand and provide a clear picture of trash and pollution issues across all four Connecticut River states to the greater community. The faster you submit, the faster we are able to publish a recap in our Cleanup Chronicle. Your data will also become part of a global network of data collected by the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup (ICC)! If you cannot submit your data day-of, please do so within one week of your cleanup. NOTE: If you tallied trash using the Clean Swell app, your data will be automatically submitted upon completion. You do NOT need to submit an additional trash tally.

Have questions? Call: 413-772-2020 x211.

You can submit pictures and video clips to us via social media, or via our form. Please be sure to include photographer credit, the names of those pictured and the location of the photo.

Sharing your photos on social media? Be sure to include the hashtag #RiverWitness and tag Connecticut River Conservancy. Let us know where you are, what brings you to the river, and what sort of river beauty or river pollution you see.

As a #RiverWitness, you can help keep the rivers clean and lend your voice to the important advocacy work across the four Connecticut River states.

Learn More About Being a #RiverWitness

You did it! We are so glad you were able to join us this year. A few things to think about as you wrap up:

Take Action: Help keep rivers clean all year long. Learn about trash laws in your state and what you can do to make a difference. Get involved locally and help stop the flow of trash.

Stay tuned: Sign up for CRC eNews for up-to-date info on the Cleanup, News & Events, Action Alerts, and more.

Donate: Help keep our rivers clean and healthy all year long – join in supporting CRC with your donation.