Several mornings per week when the weather is decent, Hyattsville resident Grant Faller drives his hand-crafted canoe to the Bladensburg Waterfront Park and sets off to collect plastic bottles and other trash from the Anacostia river. Most of the time, he uses a rake to pull the trash to his canoe and fills large plastic bags or dumps it in the canoe.
The Anacostia River Trail is one of Hyattsville’s greatest treasures that sadly few residents enjoy. The river valley teems with wildlife. Four bald eagle pairs regularly appear along the river, and even in Driskell Park.
But the river is also subject to an unending plague of plastic bottles. These bottles come from along the trail or streets, where they wash into storm drains and thence into the tributaries of our river.
Faller has collected trash for two years, but he is only one of hundreds of selfless boaters who scour the river for plastic bottles and trash from the two branches at Hyattsville all the way down to the Potomac. Kelly Tindall, Kent Fothergill, and their dog Anacostia live in the District but often launch their kayaks at Bladensburg to remove trash. They and Faller are part of an informal group of a dozen or so boaters that loosely coordinate their efforts along our stretch of the river, and they help each other out when called because a task needs more hands. Kelly and Kent have been collecting bottles (and much larger trash, including a water heater and a couch) since 2020. In that time, Kent estimates that they have collected 450,000 plastic drink bottles.
The boaters emphasize that active support from the staff at the Bladensburg Waterfront Park is critical to their efforts. They take care of moving out the trash collected, including scores of tires recovered by boaters and the dredger that visits the waterfront most years.
Robert Walker, who heads the park office, said of the boaters, “They have a passion.” Sometimes, they identify a trash hot spot for the staff, and other times they tackle it themselves. “They want a beautiful river, and we want a beautiful river.”
Hyattsville readers should know that their neighbors in the watershed down river are doing their part. The DC Trash Paddlers, for example, have 254 current members, many
of whom pitch in at events the group holds at the Bladensburg Waterfront Park. The Anacostia Watershed Society, Anacostia River Keepers, and Potomac Conservancy also rally trash events in our area.
Over lunch, Grant and Kent explained that it is their love for the Anacostia that powers their ceaseless efforts. Asked if they ever feel like Sisyphus pushing his rock, because more bottles are going to show up every day, Kent replies, “The gods had Sisyphus all wrong. He secretly had fun pushing his rock up the hill.” They agreed that they have fun every time they go out to collect trash.
Anyone interested can become part of this effort. You don’t need to be a boater. Pick up plastic bottles wherever you see them on the ground. Otherwise, they’ll just make their way into our river.
The views expressed in this column belong to its author. The Hyattsville Life & Times reserves the right to edit “From Where I Stand” submissions for brevity and clarity.