15 Years of Tallying Trash

Well, I don't think we kept accurate trash tallies in years 1-7...but we did start compiling them and publishing them on here all the way back to 2008 under the tag "Trash Tally's.

2016 will mark 15 years for Missouri River Relief.  So what can we say about all of this trash that YOU have helped us collect?  Well, let's take a look.  (Also, check out a cool photo compilation of our 2015 Treasures)

Here is just a partial list of what YOU helped clean up in 2015, from St. Louis to Omaha:

2015 Trash Tally

1,340 bags of trash
139 bags of recyclables
7,070 lbs of scrap metal
485 tires
2 tire rims
312 chunks o' styrofoam
32 propane tanks
150 fireworks remnants
6 refrigerators
1 chest freezer
4 hot water heaters
1 pressure tank
1 Freon tank
27 coolers
13.5 chairs
4 TVs
3 gas cans
5 metal gas tanks
2 duck decoys
1 goose decoy
4 fishing poles
1 bow and arrow
9 - 5-gal. metal buckets
16 - 55-gal. metal drums
43 - 55-gal. plastic barrels
61– 5 gal. plastic buckets
9 2-gallon plastic jugs
2 small metal drums
2 20-gallon plastic water tanks
3 200-gallon oil tanks
1 trash can
2 mattresses
3 box springs
1 air mattress
3 fire extinquishers

15 Most Unique Finds in 15 Years

1.  Messages in Bottles (approximately 40-50 over 15 yrs)
2.  Chicken Dance Elmo
3.  1 Sturgeon DNA Sample from the USFWS
4.  Beavis & Butthead sitting on a Couch
5.  Wind Chimes made out of Bud Light Bottles
6.  1 pair of ruby red slippers
7.  Full Jug of Atrazine
8.  Pair of Angel Wings
9.  Giant Candle shaped like a Strawberry
10.  1957 fiberglass Saber boat
11.  1 set of national bylaws from the Hell's Lovers Motorcycle club
12.  1 Kilo of Cocaine wrapped in duct tape -turned into police
13.  Cobbler’s Shoes
14.  1 shot-up Sign that reads: “$50 Reward for information leading to arrest and conviction of any person or persons found willfully mutilating or destroying this sign. The O.J. Gude Co. NY”
15.  Dead Baby Dolls--Doll Parts-- and one Inflatable Love Doll

plus many, many more strange and unique items:

Saddest Item:  Dead Garter Snake entwined in Fishing Line
Strangest:  so many kids toys, how do these end up in the river?
Curious:  I always find it strange that we find so many fire extinguishers, we probably find at least 5 a year.

1 replica of the Ameristar Casino behind the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles
1 Leopard Print Stiletto
1 boot filled with concrete
2 1/2  Jet Ski's
1 Nintendo Gun
1 Blow Up Can of Pork and Beans
Hot Tubs (at least 3)
1 “The 4 Most Important Things I Know” CD by Pastor Brian Zahnd with the Word of Life Church in St. Joe, MO still in the wrapper
2 live blue catfish attached to a free floating jug
1 antique sewing machine
1 airplane sponson (pontoon)
1 frisbee "Look Who's Over the Hill and Can Still Get it Up"
1 plastic Swampthing Toy
1 Dog Collar w/ complete dog skeleton & rabies tag
 The body of an Electric Guitar
1 unopened bag of Fruity Pebbles
1 framed dolphin print
1 desk and the entire contents of a person’s office, including file cabinet, electronic goods, computer manuals, briefcase, a Bible and much, much more dumped along the Riverfront trail and covered with a tarp
1 Adam Sandler DVD "Going Overboard"
1 Glass Chandelier
1 Studebaker hubcap signed on the inside with a name & city from Oklahoma
1 full, sealed bottle of Virex AIDS medication (valued at $400)
1 steel trap w/ finger bones
1 My Little Pony Lunch Box
1 very ugly Old Woman Rubber Mask
3+ Christmas Trees
1 Teletubby
1 Piano
1 16” Ice Skate
Several Ceramic Toilets

And the Kitchen Sink!

and then there's the...

Top 10 Most Common Items Found on the Missouri River

#1 - Styrofoam
#2 - "single-use" Plastic Bottles
#3 - "single-use" Plastic Bags & Food Wrappers
#4 - Other Plastics (bottle caps, straws, chewing tobacco cans and 5-hour energy bottles)
#5 - Tires
#6 Plastic Buckets, Barrels, Tubs & Coolers
#7 - Scrap Metal (steel cables, rods, angle iron, metal strips, poles, t-posts, sheet metal, rebar, etc.)
#8 Balls of every shape, size & color
#9 Shoes & Flip Flops
#10 - Fireworks Remnants, Party & Fisherman's Trash

This is obviously a very generalized list for a graphic I'd like to work up.  But I think it reflects what we find out there based on compilations of trash tally's I have been pouring through.  Since we don't tear open every bag of trash and count it, I really can't give you accurate data.  Just pieces.  Like this one...

We Have Rivers - a poem by Mitch Story

The 10th Annual Missouri American Water MR340 was July 28-31, from Kansas City, KS, to St. Charles, MO. This was the largest ever, with over 600 paddlers in 400 boats. It's such a mixture of challenge, inspiration and courage...all with the backdrop of the beautiful Missouri River. Missouri River Relief is proud to be part of the safety boat crew for the race since 2007.

Mitch Story, who ran ground crew with Kory Breuer for his brother, paddler Matthew Story, posted this wonderful poem on the MR340 Facebook Page and gave us permission to repost it here.

Enjoy -

Dedicated to all the wonderful MR340 racers, Scott Mansker and all the other organizers, volunteers and safety boat volunteers and to my people - the great ground crews running up and down the roads and the river banks with me and Kory Breuer and to Matthew Story, our paddler, especially:

We Have Rivers

Following them down
we need to be there ahead
when they come in
or if they decide to go on by
we wait with whatever they need
even if it's only a wave and a shout.

Compared to the toughness of their struggle
they can be so fragile
it must be why they are out there
to find the sinew of their soul
and test it against the blade of the day
or night.

Some are without support
out there on their own
with their thoughts
despite the others who are out there too
but who of us isn't in a way out there
on our own?

Sparkling as it lies in its bed
so soft and brown
from eons of wear the highest
peaks of rock rendered into oozing softness
so difficult to fathom what
transformation this water will bring.

Baking heat like the top of a rust brown anvil
freshening breezes promising rain and cool
rank shallows reeking of decay and waste
silvery fish splash in long trails of moonshine
high birds and green bands of feathery trees
voices in the dark from between faint lights.

Coming into Dover in the heat of the day
or across Dalton Bottoms in the night
or a no place you've ever been before
hoping to find a spot of bank ahead of them
because they can never go back
you find you are looking for "our people."

If you find a place with "our people"
you can know you'll have help if you need it
kindness we may look for but can't always
find is here as was said at the celebration
out here in the race - on and between
these banks is the real true world.

Some start and finish and some do not finish
we're all trying - that's enough to learn the
lesson of our pursuit
there are gifts in this world that flow from grit
and mud and salty tears
muscles and hearts aching with pain and joy.

Some have mountains. We have rivers.

Yours,
Mitch Story

For tons of info and links on the Missouri American Water MR340, click here. 

Washington River Festival Trash Tally!

Washington River Festival and Missouri River Clean-up

Rennick Riverfront Park, Washington, MO
Rivermile 68.3
April 18, 2015

Check out complete event results here. 

Clean-up Results Snapshot

Augusta Arts Alliance created this catfish from river trash and
stuff picked up from the parking lot!

Volunteers - 168
Boats - 5
Rivermiles - 7 (mm 64.3 – 71)
River Level - 6.2 ft. on Washington gage
Tires - 46 (estimated .8 tons)
Landfill Trash - 3.6 tons (est.)
Scrap Metal - .3 tons
Recyclables - .6 tons
Total Tonnage - an estimated 5.3 tons

Agencies & Groups involved - Missouri River Relief Crew, Missouri River Relief Crew, Kohl’s, Walmart, Brentwood High School National Honor Society, Missouri Stream Teams 1, 211, 4660, 3419, 1875, Kayak Swarm, Washington University

Clean-up Team Names - River Dawgs, River Trolls, Swear Bears, Largemouth Bass, Crushers, Cobras, Mighty Unicorns, Pink River Dolphins, Morels, Trash Trolls, Unerstall Family

Trash Tally!!!

193 Bags Trash!!

plus…

Hot Water Heater...the hard way. 

39 tires on wheels

4 tires w/out wheels

1 fat tire tricycle

2 motorcycle tires

1 half dolly

16 glass medical injection vials

1 10’ antenna tower

1 propane tank

1 Freon tank

1 hot water heater

9 coolers

1 30 gallon water tank

Medicine vials found on the river. 

2 Corps of Engineers dike markers: REV2865STA 11+31 & END OF ROCK PILE #2

1 guy wire anchor

1 refrigerator

1 hot water heater

1 bed spring frame

17 very large chunks of Styrofoam

1 large sheet corrugated metal

11 plastic bins (2 with lids)

1 half jet ski

6 chairs

1 basketball

1 football

3 softballs

Message in a bottle!

1 baseball bat1 1” thick heavy duty PVC pipe, 4 feet long

1 buoy

9 50-gallon plastic barrels (3 with lids)

3 50-gallon metal barrels

17 5-gallon plastic buckets

5 5-gallon metal buckets

7 2-gallon plastic jugs

1 2-gallon metal oil can