Annual River Cleanup - A wonderful weekend for our rivers!

From the Assabet and Sudbury headwaters in Westborough to the Concord River, more than 70 volunteers from across our watershed turned out for OARS' 35th Annual River Cleanup. A big thank you to our amazing volunteers and sponsors for making it a huge success!

Team Up Clean Up, the self-guided Cleanup, took place September 17-19, 2021 (and a little beyond) giving community members an opportunity to work in their own special places. Cleanup Day took place on September 18 and brought volunteers to sites that needed a larger group effort.

Despite high water, volunteers scoured the banks and trails and paddled our rivers removing trash in 11 communities. The haul included tires, mattresses, chairs, tables, scooters, shopping cart, washing machine tub, bike parts, a toilet, windows, computers, lots of bottles and countless small items.

Not only did everyone work hard, they also took home what trash they could for proper disposal. The Department of Public Works in each town helped us remove and dispose of the tires and larger trash. And local pizza parlors donated pizza for Cleanup Day's celebration after the morning of hard work! A wonderful reminder that our community can do anything when it comes together!

Please join us next September! A team of people working together can make a real, visible difference for the rivers and their community.

Thank you to our generous River Cleanup 2021 sponsors!

Epsilon Associates, J.M. Coull, Lythrum Farm, H.H. Warren Insurance Agency, US Environmental Rental, E.T. & L. Corp., Acton Hydro Company, Avidia Bank, Erickson's Dairy, Fidelity Bank, Haartz Corporation, and St. Mary's Credit Union

In-kind donations from:
Acton: Sorrento's Brick Oven Pizzeria , Stop & Shop; Concord: Concord Highway Department, Sorrento’s Brick Oven Pizzeria; Hudson: Rail Trail Flatbread Co., Stop & Shop, T.C. Lando's Pizzeria, Town of Hudson DPW; Northborough: Monti's Pizza, Town of Northborough DPW; Stow: Shaws Supermarket; Wayland: Donelan’s, Stop & Shop, Westborough: Uno’s Pizza, Bertucci’s, Town of Westborough DPW.