GREENFIELD — As the 30th annual Source to Sea Cleanup approaches, organizers say more than 120 volunteer groups have already signed up to participate in the cleanup of the Connecticut River and its tributaries, with more expected to join the day of the event.
The Source to Sea Cleanup officially starts on Friday, Sept. 18, and continues into Saturday, Sept. 19. It’s organized by the Greenfield-based Connecticut River Conservancy, with the goal of ensuring cleaner water and healthier habitats across the 410-mile watershed in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
With this being the 30th year of the event, Diana Chaplin, communications director with the Connecticut River Conservancy, said that volunteers who participated in previous years have now become group leaders, directing their own cleanup teams.
“We now have people that have been involved in many ways through the years,” Chaplin recounted. “This particular young individual had been going when she was a kid with her parents, because her parents had been doing the cleanup for years, and this year she [is] 17 and wanted to be a group leader.”
The annual event is normally held at the same time as the Green River Cleanup, however, due to unforeseen circumstances and scheduling, the 23rd annual Green River Cleanup has remained at its typical timeframe, which is the last weekend of September, while the Source to Sea Cleanup was pushed earlier than is the norm.
“We do fluctuate the exact weekend from year to year, so this year we had to make it a little bit earlier than usual,” Chaplin said. “It’s not a bad thing, because it extends opportunities for people to be involved. People in the Greenfield area can go to other cleanups this weekend and still join the big Green River Cleanup next weekend, so I think it’s a good thing.”
Green River Cleanup organizer David Boles said that in 2025, similar to 2024, the volunteer cleanup removed nearly 25 tons of trash and waste. He shared that just because the official date of the Green River Cleanup is on Sept. 26, that doesn’t mean that other volunteers or organizations can’t begin the cleanup process earlier.
One of these organizations was Deerfield’s Eaglebrook School, which started the volunteer work earlier this week by cleaning up the portion of the river and a tributary near campus.
“[On Tuesday] I went out and we set up a group at the Eaglebrook School with 22 kids, and they cleaned up and down this dead-end area with a tributary and a creek,” Boles said. “They pulled out incredible amounts — five tires, 20 bags of garbage and endless amounts of other stuff. To see people take an interest in keeping our rivers and tributaries clean is really an incredible reward.”
For those looking to join the Green River Cleanup, a welcome ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Green River Swimming & Recreation Area on Nash’s Mill Road in Greenfield. There, local restaurants will provide food for the volunteers and music will be performed by Boys of the Landfill.
For both cleanups, organizers say to wear comfortable clothing and closed-toe shoes, with Chaplin mentioning that volunteers should expect to get a little dirty.
“Most groups are going to have gloves and trash bags distributed, and most of the cleanups only last a couple of hours,” Chaplin said. “Bring some water, bring a positive attitude, wear comfortable clothes and be OK with getting a little bit dirty.”
Chaplin said that each team of volunteers is asked to fill out a trash tally, so that the Connecticut River Conservancy is able to track how much waste was removed from the watershed. However, she noted that not every group or volunteer fills out a trash tally.
“Not everyone does it, but we really encourage it so that we are able to share impact metrics about how much trash is removed and what kind of trash is removed,” Chaplin explained. “We know from these tallies that over these 30 years, over 2 million pounds of trash has been removed from our waterways, and again, that’s just from the known numbers, so the true number is likely higher.”
Since formal data collection began in 1999, volunteers have documented the removal of 14,849 tires, 336,073 beverage containers and 410,145 pounds of scrap metal.
Last year alone, the Source to Sea Cleanup engaged 126 volunteer groups and more than 2,000 participants across all four watershed states. Together, they removed more than 35 tons of trash from rivers and riverside areas, totaling more than 70,000 pounds of debris.
When it comes to the Green River, Boles said the river’s northern portion is often clean, but the southern portion, as the river flows out of the city, could really benefit from cleaning.
“I’m sitting right in front of the Green River right now. … There’s a beach up there, and the other day I saw a mama bear with two cubs,” Boles said, describing the typically clean, picturesque environment in northern Greenfield. “The issue I have is that it’s toxic and polluted as it runs through Greenfield, and then sadly, it empties into the Deerfield River as unhealthy water.”
For those who are on the fence about volunteering, Boles said a simple motivator would be looking at a clean portion of the river and wanting to dive in.
“My message to them is to go to a river where it’s clean and dive in. The reward is incredible,” Boles said. “Then go to a river that’s neglected and polluted, and it’s heartbreaking. For me, [it’s] just being able to swim in a clean, clear river. … When I came to New England and saw that there was still hope for the rivers, it really gave me an opportunity to put my focus on something that’s important to me.”
For more information on the Source to Sea Cleanup or to register to participate, visit sourcetoseacleanup.org. To inquire about the Green River Cleanup, contact Boles at greenrdb@gmail.com.
“If you haven’t participated in a river cleanup before, make this the year you do so. Give it a try,” Chaplin said. “You’re going to have a great time, and maybe you’ll find something really funky and unusual in the river, and if so, please tell us what it is so we can share that story.”
