Staff from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) will be ramping up their efforts to assist the John G. Shedd Aquarium in cleaning up the 12th Street beach during the next regularly scheduled cleaning event set for noon on Wednesday, May 16.
This will be the second regularly scheduled cleanup for the 2012 Adopt-A-Beach season. Last month, MWRD staff members Jennifer Burns, Allison Fore and Shekinah Horton helped collect a total of 123 pounds of debris along the lakefront. The items included 91 lb of trash and 32 lb of recycling.
“I have never participated in something like this before and I enjoyed the experience overall,” Horton said. “I was actually surprised to find so many articles of clothing, bricks and concrete. I’m looking forward to the next clean up in May.”
Last month, about two dozen volunteers picked up items that could not be collected by Chicago Park District tractors. Teams of 3-4 meticulously combed the sand looking for debris and waste and tallying each item. Some items were as small as cigarette butts and glass fragments and other were large, such as metal rods and blocks of concrete.
Beach cleanings are held monthly and begin promptly at noon. Other upcoming dates for the 12th Street beach cleanup are: July 18, Aug. 15, Sept. 15 and Oct. 17.
Source: MWRD
