Thursday, March 24, 2011

Lake of Trash: Volunteers haul away thousands of pounds of garbag

Over the past several weeks, volunteers with Living Lands and Waters, a traveling nonprofit environmental group specializing in river and lake cleanup, hauled in more than 10,000 pounds of plastic bottles, basketballs, tires, appliances, and even a prosthetic leg found floating in McKellar Lake.

College students from across the country gave up their spring break vacations to help the organization clean up trash in Memphis.

"I'm almost certain that if people knew what was going on out here, they would think twice about what they throw away and where they throw it away," said Edward Bempong, who volunteered with a group from the University of Illinois at Springfield.

The UIS Alternative Spring Break group's efforts were featured in a March 24, 2011 Memphis Flyer article.

Read the article online