Hartsburg Missouri River Cleanup 2013

Hartsburg MDC Public Boat Access, Hartsburg, MO
Saturday, October 19th, 2013

It had been since 2008 when we last enjoyed morels, music and mud in this tiny speck of a river town.  But as part of our 1st "Annual" Mid-Missouri River Clean-up, we set our sites on one small town in mid-MO on the third weekend in October.  On October 19th, we worked our final big event of the year and it was a blast!

Saturday morning started blustery, ended sunny, and brought around 194 volunteers to the river to pick up trash. Fall colors were beginning to explode on the bluffs and several rafts of pelicans were seen moving through the area. A beautiful day with tons of volunteers from the Hartsburg area, Jefferson City and Columbia.

This was our third Hartsburg clean-up, and we really had to search hard to find the trash here. A huge shout out to the FEMA Americorps group for staying all afternoon and sorting through all the trash for recyclables.  Big thanks to Advanced Disposal and Jim's Tire Salvage for handling part of our waste stream.  And thanks to Terry Durham at Eridu Farms for letting our crew camp for the weekend at his beautiful elderberry farm!

Even on a chilly Saturday morning, over 190 volunteers teamed up at the MDC Public Boat Access in Hartsburg to help clean-up 9 miles of the Missouri River.  Over 115 bags of trash were collected and sorted through, resulting in 39 bags of recyclables, along with tons of scrap metal, appliances, and other materials including a small john boat!

After bringing the volunteers back for lunch the River Relief crew worked on hauling back all of the trash. 

Check out the full Trash Tally and photo essay on our Rivernotes Blog. To see photos from the event, check out our Flickr or Facebook albums.

A huge thanks to our agency partners who provided boats at the clean-up to help shuttle volunteers: we were joined by the Mo. Dept. of Conservation,  Mo. Dept of Natural Resources, and the MU Coop Unit in addition to our 5 boats. 

It takes a real leap of faith to get down & dirty on the Mighty MO and we can't thank our Hartsburg sponsors, partners and volunteers (listed on the right) enough for all of the support!  A ton of high school and college students, local clubs and stream teams showed up in full force, even some all the way from Kansas City.  What an amazing group effort! 

Trash Tally:

76 Bags of Trash

and...
39 Bags of Recyclables
30 Tires
4 – 5-gal. Plastic Buckets
1 – 5-gal. Metal Drum
2 – 55 gal. Metal Drums
4 – 55 gal. Plastic Barrels
1 – 55 gal. Plastic Barrel Lid
4 – Large Plastic Jugs
2 – Refrigerator Doors
3 – Chest Freezers
2 – Compressors
4 Propane Tanks
1 Large Propane Tank with regulator
1 Plastic Shower Base
1 Toilet Base
2 Plastic Milk Crates
1 TV
2 partial Bed Frames
1 Folding Chair
1 Plastic Trash Can Lid
1 Plastic Table
1 Car Bumper
1 Muffler
1 huge Mud Flap (18-wheeler)
6 ft of Carpet
8 ft of Plastic Pipe
1 3x3 ft Wall with Insulation
1 Full, sealed bottle of Virex AIDS medication (valued at $400)
2 Paint Cans
6ft of Rebar
1 Plastic cup from Jolly Roger's in Sioux City, IA
1 Concrete Boot Anchor
1 Lady Speed Stick Deoderant
1 fully functioning Sharpie permanent marker
2 Inner Tubes
1 ½” Tubing
1” Cable
4x16 ft of Sheet Metal
1 Window Weight
5 pieces of Scrap Iron
33 Balls
4 Flip Flops
2 Beverage Mugs
1 Car Mirror
1 Spot Light
1 small Propane Bottle
1 Electric Conduit Box
1 Halloween cookie tin
1 Rusty Skillet
1 Hockey Puck
Sasquatch’s Toe Spreader
2 Fan Blades
2 Little Coolers
2 Hearts
2 Metal Hooks
1 Sledding Suit
1 K-State Can Coozie
½ Fishing Pole
1 Rocket Launcher
1 Septic Pump
1 Easter Egg
1 Sippy Cup
1 Red Light
1 Brake Pad
1 concrete Boot
1 Fancy Baby Bottle w/ nipple
1 Giant Fork
1 Toy Tank
1 Tiny Trashcan
1 Sexy Underpants
1 Brake Light
Fireworks Detritus
1 Lantern
1 Bike Pedal
1 Batters Helmet
1 Big Glass Jug
1 Minnow Net
1 Typewriter Feed
1 Rubber Frog
1 full container of Chicken Livers
1 Plastic Pumpkin
1 Hypodermic Needle
1 Fishing Hat
1 Bobber
1 External Thumbdrive
1 plastic Koala