Yaxin Xu

Community Project - Elizabeth River Clean Up

Every year, Kean University organizes all kinds of activities during the Earth Week to call for students to protect the environment. For the community project, I participated the Annual Elizabeth River Clean Up which was organized by the Center for Leadership and Service and the Earth Science Club. Elizabeth River Clean Up has been Kean’s major activity to celebrate Earth Day and has been organizing for years. It is a part of the Union County Adopt-a-Park Program.

This year’s Elizabeth River Clean Up was on Thursday, April 18, 2019. The purpose of this project was to remove litter along the stretch of the Elizabeth River at the East Campus. I lived next to the East Campus, so I passed by the Elizabeth River all the time. The reason why I chose this project was that I had been noticed that there was a lot of litter along the river and I would like to volunteer to clean up the river.

There were a lot of students volunteering that day and many of them brought their own waterproof rain boots. I brought a pair of pink rubber gloves and a big plastic bag with me. I did not realize the huge amount of the litter until I walked closer to the river. There were plastic bottles, plastic bags, cigarettes and useless batteries. Although our clothes and shoes got dirty during the cleanup, no one complained about it. I collected much litter in my plastic bag within one hour and the majority were plastic bags and then plastic bottles. Some plastic bottles were empty and some had liquid left inside. I noticed that there were a lot of plastic bottles in the river. It was difficult for us to take them out since some of them were already under the water. I tried to collect all the litter around me. 

I met a senior student called Jane who had been taking part in this project for three years. Jane told me that the situation was much worse the first time she volunteered; she was happy that environment was getting better and more and more students joined in this project. I told Jane that it was my honor to be a part of the Elizabeth River Clean Up Project. This project reminded me the importance to properly dispose daily wastes. Only after you experience the process of cleaning up litter can you realize the damage individuals can make to the environment if you throw away litter randomly.

Actually, river pollution leads to water pollution. Water pollution has been a serious society and is a big threat to our environment as well as to our health conditions. The pollution mainly comes from the litter, chemical waste products from our daily life waste, factories production and farming process. There is no doubt that community projects like the Elizabeth River Clean Up can help improve the river environment. However, it is the most important that we, the public, have an awareness of protecting the environment. As I mentioned in the beginning, the Elizabeth River Clean Up project was a part of the Union County Adopt-a-Park Program. The Adopt-a-Park Program also includes the cleanups in Rahway River, Conant Park, Green Brook Park and Watchung Reservation. In the future, I will volunteer more in those projects to make my own contribution and have my friends to join me. Together, we can make a difference!