The first numbers are in for the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association’s 3rd annual stream cleanups: Last weekend, first-time participant Plainsboro Township collected the most trash.
”In Plainsboro we teamed up with the Plainsboro Recreation Department and 59 volunteers to haul 97 bags — or more than 750 pounds of trash — from the Lenape Trail and Cranbury Brook,” said Jim Waltman, executive director of the Watershed Association.
Some the largest items collected included two chairs, three tires, a shopping cart, vacuum cleaner and two laptops. The most prevalent trash items were beverage cups, plastic bags and food wrappers.
In West Windsor, 20 volunteers collected 38 bags, or 413 pounds, of trash from the Delaware & Raritan Canal area along Quaker Road behind the Nassau Park Shopping Center, including five tires, house siding, plastic shelving, a Buddha statue and rubber ducky. The most common trash collected at the site was beverage cups, plastic bottles, aluminum cans and food wrappers.
In Princeton, nine volunteers collected 300 pounds of trash from the Delaware & Raritan Canal area near Route 27 as well as the Wildlife Refuge off West Drive near the Lawrence Apartments.
Through a collaborative effort between the Watershed Association, Sustainable Princeton, Princeton University Water Watch, Princeton Public Schools, local artists and the Joint Princeton Environmental Commission, trash from this cleanup will be used to create a found-art sculpture to be displayed in front of the Princeton Public Library this summer and later on at the Whole Earth Center and Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association’s Butterfly Festival in August.
This weekend, there will be four clean-ups: Hopewell Township, Lawrence Township and Monroe Township on Saturday May 2, and East Windsor on Sunday May 3. Interested volunteers can go to www.thewatershed.org for location, time and sign-up details.

