By Chris Barber
Contributing Writer

The volunteers who picked up trash along the Red Clay Creek didn’t need heavy coats or umbrellas this year.

The skies looked favorably on the 750-or-so folks who showed up at the annual Red Clay Cleanup last Saturday as the sun shown down on them and the temperatures hovered near 75 degrees in the late morning.

The 13-mile-long Red Clay Creek is very much the waterway of Kennett Square. It moves through the borough and nearby townships by way of two branches and ends with a meeting at the White Clay Creek in northern Delaware.

More than 30 years ago, the Red Clay Valley Association, which joined the Brandywine Valley Association to form the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance several years ago, began collecting old newspapers for recycling. That project grew into the annual cleanup, which in recent years has centered its efforts on the areas around Anson B. Nixon Park, Walnut Street, East South Street near the baseball fields and the Ashland Nature Center in Hockessin.

Volunteers spanned the ages from the very young to those who are well past retirement age.

Brandywine Red Clay Alliance Executive Director Jim Jordan said the turnout of trash gatherers, which was pushing 800, was the second highest in his memory. After the cleanup was over, he estimated that they had collected 70 cubic yards.
“That’s a lot of trash,” he said.

Many high school students participated, earning service points toward their graduation requirements. Troop 22 of the Kennett Square Boy Scouts were also there as well as a group from the Garage Youth and Community Center in Kennett Square.

Jordan also credited local small businesses in the area for providing help and administrative support.

“We couldn’t keep this area clean without them. …I’m very proud,” he said.

Through the years, the trash pickup volunteers have found a wide variety of objects thrown along the banks of the Red Clay Creek.

This year Jordan reported there were hundreds of one-ounce liquor bottles and 530 tires. He said he was suspicious that some of those tires them came from mass dumps because the night before the cleanup, 35 tires showed up in a pile at the gates of the Ashland Nature Center.

The volunteers themselves named several other items that were found.

The scouts in Troop 22 came upon a lot of broken glass in the park. One member of the troop said it was as if a whole glass tabletop has shattered among the trees.

Dan Knabb, who was picking up trash with his mother, Maureen, and his young son Emmet, said he was surprised to find so many remnants of smoked cigarettes, especially when it was so close to the baseball and sports fields on South Street.

His family also found a bicycle that was totally immersed in the stream.

On Monday, Jordan said it took 26 trucks to haul all the trash away to pre-arranged Dumpsters. He added that the metal cans were separated out for recycling, as were the tires.

The Brandywine Red Clay Alliance office known as the Myrick Center is in Pocopson Township on Route 842.

They sponsor many activities that support the environment throughout the year including the Brandywine Hills Point-to-Point horse races next Sunday and the Trout Rodeo on April 26.