169 Volunteers Remove 171 Bags of Trash From PA Waterways

Pennsylvania might be hundreds of miles from the coast, but volunteers there are fighting ocean pollution one creek cleanup at a time.

This fall, 169 volunteers from six partner organizations spread across the Pennypack Watershed in Montgomery County, removing 171 bags of trash from parks, trails, roads, and streambanks. The coordinated cleanup is part of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful's Pick Up Pennsylvania program, which supports the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup.

The effort makes sense when you consider the journey of a single piece of litter. A cigarette butt dropped in a Pennsylvania parking lot can wash into storm drains, travel through 86,000 miles of state streams and rivers, and eventually reach the ocean thousands of miles away.

Leading the charge was the Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust, a group that's been protecting their local creek for 50 years. This year they expanded their annual tradition by partnering with Upper Moreland Township, Lower Moreland Township, Lorimer Park, Pennypack Environmental Center, and Riverfront North Partnership.

"Pick Up Pennsylvania helps bring people together around a shared responsibility for the places we care about," said Kevin Roth, Director of Education and Outreach at PERT. The coordinated effort strengthened partnerships throughout the watershed and brought new volunteers into the work.

The Ripple Effect

The spring cleanup season already showed the power of collective action. Across Pennsylvania, 51,000 volunteers collected 1.7 million pounds of trash and beautified nearly 25,000 acres.

Those impressive numbers represent something deeper than clean parks and clear waterways. They show communities taking ownership of their shared spaces and understanding how local actions protect distant ecosystems.

Pennsylvania sits at the intersection of five major watersheds. Every piece of trash removed from a roadside or streambank is one less threat to marine life, human health, and coastal economies downstream.

The success has volunteers thinking bigger. PERT is already planning the next Pennypack Watershed-Wide Creek Clean Up for March 20, 2027, hoping to welcome additional partners and make an even larger impact.

Through November 30, any volunteer or group can register a cleanup and receive free supplies including trash bags, gloves, and safety vests from the Department of Environmental Protection, PennDOT, and the Ocean Conservancy. Both waterway and land-based cleanups qualify since so much water pollution originates on land.

Pennsylvania's volunteers are proving you don't need oceanfront property to make waves in ocean conservation.