CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The annul litter collection day on the Kanawha River won’t happen this year. The Department of Environmental Protection this week canceled the 2020 Great Kanawha River cleanup.
This would have been the event’s 31st year.
“We always appreciate folks coming out to take part to keep the river clean and their communities clean, but given everything going on right now, we wanted to make people’s safety our top priority,” state DEP Communications Director Terry Fletcher said.
The event traditionally happens the first weekend in September along the entire length of the river from Kanawha Falls near Gauley Bridge to Point Pleasant. Fletcher hopes skipping a year won’t further contribute to trash along the waterway.
“We hope not. We hope folks can do their part throughout the year to dispose of litter in the appropriate way. But obviously that is a concern,” he said.
According to the department, more than 130 volunteers spent a combined 290 hours cleaning up the river, in which 3.5 tons of litter and 361 tires were removed.