Big Muddy Kansas City River Cleanup 2012

Kaw Point Park - Kansas City KS
Saturday, October 20th, 2012

The Eighth Annual Big Muddy KC River Clean-up at Kaw Point Park this year was a huge success, and the weather could not have been more beautiful.

The cleanup on Saturday, Oct. 20, was the inaugural collaborative project between Missouri River Relief (MRR) and Healthy Rivers Partnership (HRP), a newly formed river-stewardship, not-for-profit organization in Kansas City.

On a gorgeous Saturday morning, 303 volunteers teamed up at Kaw Point Park to help clean-up the Missouri River for the 8th annual Big Muddy KC River Clean-up.  Over 420 bags of trash were collected, along with tons of scrap metal, appliances, and other materials, enough to fill 3 dumpsters and one tire trailer!

High school, elementary and college students showed up in full force along with church groups, environmental clubs, local fishermen, scout troops, corporate teams, and more.  The River Relief crew raced to haul massive amounts of trash off of the river before the sun set.  What an amazing group effort! 

After bringing the volunteers back for lunch just a couple hours later, one of the favorite parts of our lunch program is the "Git that Garbage" Trash Contest!  Check out the entire trash tally and contest entries in our "Results Blog".

It takes a real leap of faith to get down & dirty on the Mighty MO and we can't thank our Kansas City sponsors, partners and volunteers (listed on the right) enough for all of the support they showed us while we were in town!

A huge thanks to our agency partners who provided boats at the clean-up to help shuttle volunteers: the Mo. Dept. of Conservation, Rivermiles, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Burns & McDonnell.  Many thanks & praises to Wyandotte County Parks for providing a front-end loader for the day, and to the North Central Neighbors for cooking & providing lunch!

To read more stories about the Big Muddy KC River Clean-up, see more photos from the event, check out our blog and photo pages.

More about the Healthy Rivers Partnership:

HRP is founded on the seven previous KC cleanups conducted by River Relief and grows from Kansas City’s commitment to water resources. HRP’s new Executive Director is Vicki Richmond, former program manager and development director for Missouri River Relief, and she remains a valued MRR crew member. Larry O’Donnell is also a long-time MRR crew member and he represents a bridge between the two organizations with his membership on the Board of Directors for both organizations.

The Healthy Rivers Partnership uses the power of partnerships to raise awareness of and connect people to healthy rivers through hands-on projects. HRP plans to take a variety of actions, including volunteer cleanups of trash, water-quality monitoring, invasive non-native species eradication and habitat improvement. HRP also provides learning opportunities such as the Missouri River Watershed Festival for middle school students, educational field trips and booths at community events.

“Missouri River Relief is very excited to work with a new organization that has a mission that aligns with our own,” said MRR Director Jeff Barrow. “I see this partnership as a positive example of how action-oriented groups along the river corridor can work together to improve the Missouri River and her communities.”

Trash Tally:

421 Bags of Trash! And...

76 Tires (5 huge ones)
3 Hunks O’ Tire Tread
1 Inner Tube
30 Chunks O’ Styrofoam
7 Coolers
17 ½ - 5-gal. Plastic Buckets
1 – 5 gal. Plastic Bucket with Poison
3 – 55 gal. Metal Drums
2 ½ - 55 gal. Plastic Barrels
1 – 10 gal. Water Jug
1 – 40 gal. Metal Drum
1 – 5 gal. Jug of Insecticide
1 – 7 gal. Metal Bucket
2 Refrigerators (1 mini fridge)
2 Bicycles (1 red, 1 blue)
3 Bicycle Tires and 1 Wheel
1 Cart on Wheels
2 Garden Hoses
1 Lawn Mower
4 Orange Traffic Cones
1 Shopping Cart
2 Mattresses
4 Bed Springs
6 Chairs
1 Cushion
1 Bathroom Sink
1 Venetian Blinds
1 Folding Table
1 Trash Can Lid
3 ft. of PVC Pipe
1 – 30 gal. Plastic Tub
1 Bag of Syringes – unused
3 Baseball Hats
1 Football Flag
20+ Balls (Soccer, Basket Ball, Tennis)
1 Dress Jacket
1 Fire Hose – blue plastic
4 Bags O’ Scrap Metal
1 Gear Shift
1 License Plate
6 Hub Caps
1 Truck Liner
1 Car Bumper
1 Motor Wheel
2 Car Grills
6 Wheel Rims
5 Exhaust Pipes
1 Pump
3 Gas Tanks
1 Steering Wheel
2 Horse Shoes
1 – 4” shaft Motor
5 pieces of Steel Beam
1 steel Belt
2 pieces of Electrical Conduit
20 pieces of Railing
65 large pieces of Iron
1 metal Gas Can
Barbed Wire
9 Grills & Grates
3 – 12” metal Pipes
1 Wire Basket
1 RR Bridge Catwalk
17 steel Rods
1 4x4 Post
1 6x8 Metal Sheet
49 pieces of Rebar
30 iron Machine Parts
Refrigerator Coils
3 Fence Posts
1 Window Screen
1 Metal Case
59 pieces of Tow Boat remains
1 Fire Extinguisher
1 TV
6’ of Roofing Shingles
2 pieces of Vinyl Sidinsg
3 heavy pieces of Rubber Roofing/Flooring
14 wooden Boards with nails
2 wooden Box Frames
1 6x6 piece of Plywood
4 pieces of Flooring
2 pieces of Carpet
1 cubicle Divider
8 Vinyl Strips
1 Blanket
2 Tarps
1 giant Man Purse (full)
1 Bamboo Shade
2 Patio Umbrellas
5 Hunks O’ Corrugated Plastic
1 melted heavy Chunk O’ Plastic
50’ of Plastic Tubing
1 Golf Driver Club
45 pieces of 8” Plastic Pipe
9 ½ PVC Pipes
1 long Plastic Planter
1 Tote Cover
1 Plastic Sink