Mark your calendars, save the date, tell your friends, shout it from the rooftop, the 25th Anniversary of Clean Your Streams Day is here! Since 1997, the number of volunteers on Clean Your Streams Day has grown each year and the support for this event has gotten stronger and stronger. We are excited that not even a pandemic could deter our volunteer’s determination for clean water. The more friends, family members, and colleagues you encourage to join us for this special day, the bigger impact we can have on our local waterways. 

The 25th Anniversary of Clean Your Streams will be happening the week of September 18th- September 25th, with the main celebration happening on September 25th. There will be an in-person clean-up on September 25th with usual kick-off locations. But if you cannot make the September 25th, we are offering "remote" do it on-your-own time clean-ups beforehand. Both "remote" and in-person volunteers will be invited to a special Clean Your Stream 25th Anniversary picnic on September 25th to celebrate and reflect on their amazing impact on our waterways.

Stay tuned for more details on our website, including the opening of registration in mid-August.

It takes thousands of dollars and countless hours of work to help keep our waterways clean and safe. We are so grateful and humbled by the community support we have received in the past, but our reality is, we need your help to assist our efforts for our community. Your donation will impact our waterways for a lifetime by supporting efforts to clean garbage out of our waters and help educate people about the amount of trash we find. Marine debris is a problem in our waterways, that you can make a difference in, and your donation will help rid our waterways of this man-made issue. How about a gift to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Clean Your Streams! Every $25, $250, or $2500 sponsor makes a tangible difference!

If you want to help make 2021 a success, you can donate on our website or by contacting us directly. Help us make this year the best year yet by soliciting sponsors in your family network, workplace, or organizations, and spreading the news about how much we need to remove trash from our waterways.

Microplastics are plastics that are less than 5 mm in size and a lot about them is unknown. Research has shown that microplastics can cause physical harm to wildlife when ingested. Microplastics can absorb other chemicals such as trace metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, and some pathogens. Initial research has also suggested that plastic additives can contribute to disruption in the endocrine system and possibly cancer. Currently, there are five types categorized by the USGS: fibers, foam, fragments, beads/pellets, and film. After a study of microplastics in the Great Lakes Region published in 2016 from USGS, they found that fibers were the most commonly found microplastic in the Maumee and Portage Rivers.

These little strings of plastic come from some surprising sources, our synthetic clothes, diapers, and cigarettes. When we wash our synthetic clothes, the synthetic fibers break off our clothing, slip past the water treatment plants, and end up right in our water. Unbeknown to most smokers, cigarettes are made of plastic fibers. When cigarettes are thrown on the ground and start to “break down” the fibers can break off and enter our waterways.  

Help reduce the fibers by trying one of these tips from Huron River Watershed Council. Some helpful tips included:

• Looking for a filter for your washing machine
• Use laundry devices that capture microfibers
• Buy less synthetic clothing

And you can always join us on a clean-up to remove cigarette butts and clothing from our waterways before the fibers start to break off! Sign- up here