Volunteers picked up more trash out of Michigan rivers and streams last year than in previous years.
Tamara Lipsey, an aquatic biologist with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, says they found 31,000 pounds of garbage.
“Food wrappers and food containers and things,” Lipsey said. “But they always find grocery carts, they find inner tubes, some people found kayaks, plastic lawn chairs. In 2023, there was a safe that was not opened that was found, a Barbie car.”
One volunteer in Traverse City even found the body of a homeless man.
The state uses money from a specialty license plate to pay groups to clean up the rivers.
Michigan has a littering law, and lawmakers are pushing legislation to stiffen penalties for littering or dumping large amounts of trash.
