Litter Free Chicago-Calumet River
Friends has been at the forefront of cleaning up the river since we founded Chicago River Day in 1992, a watershed-wide cleanup that engages thousands of volunteers annually. While there is much to celebrate about the river’s renaissance over the past 40 years, litter continues to be a persistent problem, but in a new form. As a result of our leadership, the river is no longer a dumping ground for large trash like old tires and shopping carts; today’s litter consists mainly of harmful plastics from food and product packaging. Though small, this litter has big impacts. It damages wildlife habitat; diminishes water quality; and causes negative community, economic, and public health impacts.
Our Litter Free Chicago-Calumet River initiative works to reduce the amount of trash harming our waterways by working with community and government leaders to develop strong public policy and comprehensive litter reduction programs. This multi-pronged approach includes litter research and engaging residents and companies in local cleanup efforts to keep our rivers clean for all.
Litter is harmful in countless ways: it tangles us in fishing lines, leaks chemicals, and creates sharp hazards. Wildlife often eat the tiniest pieces of trash, which distrupt their digestive systems and cause them to starve. While the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and the City of Chicago remove an average of 3,095 cubic yards of trash a year, it's not enough to offset these harms.
Studies show the economic costs of litter are considerable as well. According to Keep America Beautiful’s 2020 National Litter Study:
- Litter cleanup efforts cost the U.S. an estimated $11.5 billion every year, with businesses paying 80% of the price.
- Property values decrease in a community by over 7% when the community has a prevalent litter issue, with 60% of property appraisers claiming they would reduce a home’s value if it was littered.
- Other consequences include loss in tourism, expenses to fix vehicles damaged by litter, negative public perception of a community when reports of local wildlife hurt by litter are in the news, and costs connected to avoidable injuries to animals and humans.
Litter Free Task Force
We need everyone's help to protect and restore our rivers for all people, water, and wildlife. In 2018, with support from Mars Wrigley Foundation, Friends began organizing the Litter Free Task Force to bring together businesses and non-profits like Shedd Aquarium, WM, and Loyola University Chicago to create resources, share information and promote events, behaviors, and policies working towards a Litter Free Chicago-Calumet River system. Each group brings perspective, resources and expertise that builds our ability to reduce litter and waste.
Data Collection Guides Solutions
One critical member of the task force is Loyola University’s Dr. Timothy Hoellein who studies river trash. Task Force members collect data during our cleanups, cataloging it by material and source to provide data specific to our city. All kinds of things are found in the river—cigarette butts, VHS tapes, action figures, plastic bottles, bags, and car parts among them. Some are there by accident—carried by wind, stormdrains or animals—while some are still dumped on purpose.
What is found most frequently by far is food packaging and plastics of all kinds.
Categorized by material:
-
85% of the litter from our rivers is plastic.
-
About one-third of this plastic is expanded polystyrene foam (EPS). Popularly known as styrofoam, this foamy material is most often found in packing peanuts and take-out boxes.
Categorized by source:
-
58% of identifiable pieces of litter come from food-related items.
These numbers are closely aligned with the national data. In 1976, there were 50 million metric tons of plastic produced globally. But according to Statista, that number rose to an astronomical 390.7 million metric tons by 2021. The increase in plastic production over the last 50 years has been tremendous.
This plastic then breaks down into hard-to-see microplastics, which have begun accumulating in the tissue of living organisms at an alarming rate. Dr. Hoellein’s research found that more than 93 percent of fish examined in the Chicago-area waterways have some form of plastic present inside them.
While Friends works through partnerships to change policy on issues like single-use plastics, we also recognize the need for each of us to individually do what we can to attack this stubborn problem.
By reducing plastic use, we and future generations will enjoy safer, healthier and more prosperous communities and rivers, and help address climate change by reducing the energy put into plastic production.
