McMinnville River Cleanup Taking On Tons Of Trash

Registration is open for the McMinnville Breakfast Rotary Club’s 14th annual river ride and cleanup at Pepper Branch Park on Saturday.

Chairman Neal Cox said there’s 100 miles of river to clean and 300 tires and three tons of trash can come out during the effort. Cox said that 20 teams are tackling 20 locations from Pepper Branch to Riverfront Park.

“Year after year we’ve added a few barges, we bought the flat bottom boats from different places and got them at yard sales,” Cox said. “So we’ve got probably a little more than 20 barges now or flat bottom boats. That’s what people stack their trash up on. Then about every mile as these people float down there’s a place where we have a trash drop off.”

Cox said that this cleanup is not about sending trash to the landfill. He said there is an emphasis on recycling, from reusable trash bags to a partnership with Bridgestone to reuse the tires.

“We try to recycle all the trash,” Cox said. “Probably of the two or three tons that we get, not more than a third of it actually goes in the trash. Two thirds of it we recycle. The tires are what weighs so much and that’s all recycled. We find a lot of aluminum cans and glass.”

Cox said there is a large amount of community support for this event, from churches to employers that join in. However, Cox said it is the perfect opportunity for Tennessee Promise students to volunteer and the Breakfast Rotary will take care of the rest.

“Do you want breakfast, do you want lunch?” Cox said. “Do you need a kayak, do you need a canoe? If you don’t have anything, we’ll provide it all. We’ll provide life jackets, we’ll provide gloves to clean up.”

Cox said the most important thing volunteers need to do is register at breakfastrotary.org so the club knows what they need to provide. Cox said the cleanup will kick off at 7:30 AM at Pepper Branch Park on Saturday.