PROVO, Utah (ABC4 Utah) – Wet weather sure didn’t stop people from getting out and about Saturday.
The theme of the weekend seems to be “water.” We had it falling from the sky and it was a main focus in Provo canyon as dozens of volunteers came out to clean up trash along the Provo River.
You won’t believe some of the things they found. Piles of old flip flops, a broken canoe and even a rusted metal safe.
Event organizer, Brad Greeno told us, “A raft was a big deal, a mattress, I mean, TV dinners, fifths of alcohol, pretty much anything.”
Seems like everything and anything was littering the banks of the Provo River and in the water. And today volunteers took a stand
Volunteer Andrew Kooiman says, “I think it’s important to get out there and protect these beautiful places. I was so surprised at how much trash I found out there today.”
Saturday’s event was appropriately named “Fishing for Garbage” Organizers noticed a problem in the last couple of years and were motivated to make a change.”
Matt Maxwell is a fisherman and told us, “There’s generally a lot of garbage. Although, this year, there’s not as much because we did this last year and it’s getting harder to find garbage.” >
Maxwell says he was proud to see the garbage bags pile up. And the heaps of volunteers showed up for the second annual event.
Maxwell and his friend, Brad Greeno, organized the event and say it’s exciting to see their passion for a cleaner environment take off.
The group says they are committed to clean up and will be back around the same time next year, but you can do your part by picking up trash in our backcountry.
Organizers say they want to see fish for garbage expand to other places like the Weber River. They also encourage anglers to fill their nets with trash when they wrap up a day trip.
