GREENFIELD — Franklin County residents of all ages rolled up their sleeves to rid local waterways of as much debris as possible during the 28th annual Source to Sea Cleanup over the weekend.

Dozens of groups and individual volunteers registered to help improve the Connecticut River Watershed’s health by removing trash in hopes of ensuring high water quality. The cleanup, which encompasses the 410-mile watershed in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut, has long been held in conjunction with the Green River Cleanup, formed 21 years ago and a part of the larger Franklin County Rivers Cleanup.

“We have a really large group of people here. I’d say about 30 different sites have been cleaned up in Greenfield and I think people are having a great day here,” Green River Cleanup organizer David Boles said Saturday at the Green River Swimming and Recreation Area, where at least 250 volunteers converged to offer a helping hand. “It’s a great community effort and we’re cleaning up a lot of Greenfield and the Franklin County area today.”

Doughnuts, lunch, water and coffee were provided to volunteers and a band was present to entertain. Mounds of debris quickly piled up, and some people sorted recyclables like bottles and cans. Some volunteers carted over trash they found along the nearby bicycle path.

The swimming area also consisted of a station where people could construct their own eco-friendly reusable shopping bags. The station was run by volunteers with Friends of Reusable Bags, a project of Greening Greenfield, which got a state Department of Environmental Protection grant for the event.

“It picks up as the people come back from picking up their trash,” said Greening Greenfield member Peg Hall. “It’s a fun job.”

She mentioned the most challenging aspect was figuring out which material to use to make bags.

“The more we looked into it, the more we realized that the right answer is to make them out of anything that already exists,” she said. “Because if you make them out of … even organic cotton, that uses a lot of water. We’re making them out of something that otherwise would have been trashed.”

Hall mentioned the bags used had previously held up to 40 pounds of animal feed.

“The handles are made out of drip tape that came out of farmers’ fields at the end of the season,” she added.

“The amazing thing, also, is that these are all donated by farmers,” added fellow Greenfield resident Paul Jablon. “But the farmers are ecstatic, because … they just throw them away.”

One of the other cleanup sites was the perimeter of Green River Cemetery off Wisdom Way, where adult volunteers were assisted by Northfield Mount Hermon School students.

“It’s been going well,” volunteer Patrick McGreevy, who is also organizer David Boles’ cousin, said at around 10:30 a.m. “We have a lot of volunteers and lots of sites around the place that we’re cleaning up, and discovering all kinds of interesting stuff.”

Don Plante, a first-timer from Gill, said he has for years read about the cleanup in newspapers and thought it was time to pitch in.

“I just felt I needed to do something to help out,” he said. “I just went out and found a site and signed up.”

According to the Connecticut River Conservancy’s website, last year’s Source to Sea Cleanup saw 1,200 volunteers collecting 34 tons of trash and 9,200 beverage containers.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.