
				Pat Quinn, Governor

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Environmental Progress - Autumn 1996

Garbage In, Garbage Out -- Illinois Volunteers Help Tidy the Ohio River

Some 800 bags of trash were pulled from the historic stream at nine sites in Illinois

Despite high water levels that restricted access in some areas, more than 400 volunteers dragged some 800 bags of assorted trash from the Ohio River's Illinois shoreline during the eighth annual "Ohio River Sweep" in mid-June.

The cleanup is organized by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission to clean up the entire 1,962 miles of Ohio River shoreline. In Illinois, the cleanup of 133 shoreline miles between Old Shawneetown and Cairo is coordinated by the Illinois EPA.

Litter pulled from the river ranged in size from prescription pill bottles to refrigerators and bed springs. In between were plastic, glass, foam, cans, tow ropes, and tires. The "catch of the day" was a tractor gas tank hooked at the Golconda clean up site in Pope County.

Volunteers are provided with gloves and trash bags, and are given tee-shirts as souvenirs of their efforts. Soft drinks were provided by the Marion Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co. Workers in Massac County were treated to a pizza party sponsored by private industries located along the river, and those working at Golconda were lunch guests of the Franklin and Williamson counties sub-chapter of American Federation of State County and Municipal Employee retirees.

Clean up crews range from students to seniors, reflecting an increasing public awareness of the importance of clean rivers as habitat for aquatic life as well as sources of recreation, scenic enjoyment and drinking water.

[Photo caption: Volunteers at the Shawneetown site warm up for their Ohio River sweep duties with some preliminary tidying of the Old Shawneetown Park rallying point.]