Tons of Trash Removed From South Mississippi Waterways

Picking up trash in the Pascagoula River

Volunteers are spread out across the southern portion of the state this week cleaning up Mississippi waterways. MPB’s Phoebe Judge reports.

Barbara Visca is up to her waist in water standing in the middle of the Pascagoula River picking up garbage,

"We’ve decided to walk the banks because it’s just full of wine bottles, beer bottles, beer cans, and a lot of Styrofoam."

She is one of 500 volunteers taking part in the four day Renew Our Rivers cleanup event spread across seven different waterways in Southern Mississippi. The Pascagoula River is the last large free flowing river in the United States. 25 boats are trolling up and down it picking up whatever garbage they can find. Last year’s Renew Our Rivers event, which is organized by Mississippi Power, collected over 30 tons of garbage. Tracy Higgins with Mississippi Power, says people just don’t understand that most garbage doesn’t disintegrate,

“We live and play on these waters, and we realize that we are very blessed to we have them, and be able to access them, and appreciate them, and so it’s just in our nature to be out here and do what we can to clean them up.”

Event organizers say one positive is that they are seeing a steady decline in the amount of trash gathered. That may be a result of Hurricane Katrina debris finally being lifted from the waterways, or people finally accepting the fact that trash doesn’t just disappear. The cleanup continues today in Biloxi, before moving north to waterways in Hattiesburg and Meridian.