Aaron Weinstein, a volunteer from Springfield, Vt., pulls junk from the Black River during an annual cleanup last month. RiverSweep is sponsored by the Springfield-based nonprofit Black River Action Team.
Aaron Weinstein, a volunteer from Springfield, Vt., pulls junk from the Black River during an annual cleanup last month. RiverSweep is sponsored by the Springfield-based nonprofit Black River Action Team. Credit: Jeff Semprebon photograph

Springfield, Vt. — A cleanup of the Black River drew dozens of volunteers who walked and paddled stretches of the waterway, collecting 40 bags of household trash, five bags of plastic bottles and assorted debris.

The Black River Action Team, a Springfield-based nonprofit organization, sponsors the annual “RiverSweep,” held last month for the 17th time.

Volunteers fan out from Springfield and Ludlow, Vt.

A crew of adult and teenage paddlers collected tires, traffic cones and an old couch cushion from the soft river bottom, the organization said in a news release.

Cavendish Town Elementary School students again stepped up to remove “all manner of garbage from a lovely historic swimming hole.”

Volunteers also removed a lawn mower, lawn chairs, fencing, plastic roofing, PVC piping, two dozen tires, a bicycle, a pink lawn flamingo, an entire cake, a car jack and three hubcaps.

The trash tally is included in data collected during the Connecticut River Watershed Council’s annual Source-to-Sea Cleanup.

According to its website, the watershed council uses data from the four-state cleanup to support legislation and other efforts to keep trash out of rivers.

Partners for the Black River cleanup included local businesses, which provided beverages, snacks and lunch, and the town of Cavendish, Vt.

— Staff report