ALABASTER – Residents worked together to remove litter from Buck Creek Park during Community Cleanup Day in Alabaster on Saturday, March 29. From 10 a.m. to noon, volunteers gathered at Buck Creek Park to search the trails for litter and to remove debris during the cleanup effort that was held in partnership with Osprey Initiative.
“We had a great day at Buck Creek,” said Mitch Lowe, regional manager for Osprey Initiative. “It was overcast and windy all morning but we had several volunteers come out. Fortunately, the rain held off until we were done. We got a good bit of material.” Thanks to the cleanup effort, 352 pounds of trash and recyclables were removed from Buck Creek and the surrounding area, including metal debris, plastic bags, tires and more. “We also got some heavier items, large debris like bikes, we had several tires and believe it or not, multiple doors,” Lowe said. “I don’t know how those ended up in the creek, but we were able to remove two or three house doors from the creek.”
Lowe shared that, while 352 pounds may not seem like a lot, the majority of the litter and debris collected consisted of lightweight items such as grocery bags and Styrofoam. All of the bags of litter were collected by Alabaster Parks and Recreation and delivered to Osprey Initiative who will sort them for recycling or disposal. Lowe said the event was put together to simultaneously celebrate the community of Alabaster and to provide an opportunity for residents to volunteer. “We just wanted a way to kind of celebrate the community (and) give back,” Lowe said. “Alabaster has been a great place to work and we just wanted everyone who said, ‘How can we help?’ to have a chance to come out and do something to beautify the city.”
Alabaster Mayor Scott Brakefield joined in the Community Cleanup Day and assisted the volunteers with the removal of litter from the area. “We were thankful Mayor Brakefield was able to stop by and work with us, get his hands dirty and lead from the front as we’re addressing litter in Alabaster parks,” Lowe said. “We appreciated his work and the opportunity to spend some time with him.” As an Alabaster native, the cleanup efforts hit close to home for Lowe who valued having clean water sources as an active youth. “This is water that I grew up riding my bike to,” Lowe said. “As a kid, to be able to get out and enjoy that water, have fun, to not have to wade through trash to enjoy the awesome, natural resources has—I can’t even tell you what that’s done for me in my life. It’s kind of shaped who I am a little bit. So, this is really a great chance to get out and make sure that the next generation of kids can do that.” Lowe said that the Community Cleanup Day is the best way to help out with litter issues—emphasizing that if everyone cleans up around them, that it’s one less piece of trash that ends up in the ocean. “It just takes one person stopping that piece of litter from making its way down the chain to really eliminate a lot of this issue,” Lowe said. Those interested in learning more about the Osprey Initiative may visit Osprey.world.
This story originally appeared in The Shelby County Reporter by Noah Wortham. You can read the original story online here.
