Despite the rainy conditions, the Environmental Coalition of the Pelhams (EcoPel) and the Hutchinson River Restoration Project came together to pull trash out of the Hutchinson River and along its banks near the Glover Field area on Saturday.

With the help of equipment and staff provided by Mario Bulfamante & Sons, a team of volunteers waded into the river to pull out shopping carts, bikes and other items by using a rope and a compact excavator in the parking lot.

Back on land, others assisted in the cleanup by picking up trash littered around and behind the river bank.

Three hours work in the river resulted in the following items being removed, according to a press release from EcoPel:

• Nine shopping carts
• Two bicycles
• One wheelchair
• One iron lamp
• Two iron plant stands
• Car tires
• Mounds of household rugs, curtains and blankets
• Large sheets of scrap heavy metal
• Asphalt blocks

The land clean-up work, which involved volunteers from EcoPel, HRRP, Pelham Boy Scouts, the Village of Pelham Sustainability Advisory Board, the Pelham Town Board and community members, involved the riverside beside the Target parking garage. The group collected:

• More than thirty 50-gallon-sized bags of mixed litter
• Metal pipes
• One car tire
• One 18-inch-by-20-inch metal sign: “Please pick up and return carts here”

A total of 22 volunteers from across the Hutchinson River watershed, including Pelham, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and the Bronx, participated.

“It’s easy,” said Benny Bulfamante in the press release. “We have to clean this place up, and we have to stop polluting. And, we have to get the kids involved.”

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