Are you tired of seeing litter trash your river?
Put litter where it belongs. Trash in area waterways poses a threat to wildlife habitats and cost communities thousands to clean up.
But as a community, we can be a part of the solution.
“Don’t Let Litter Trash Your River” is the new campaign recently launched by the San Antonio River Authority, addressing the threats to creeks and rivers from trash, potable litter and illegal dumping throughout the San Antonio River Basin.
Yvi Hernandez, brand + public communications coordinator with the San Antonio River Authority, explained the importance of this new initiative to clean up our rivers.
“We actually, as part of our commitment to safe, clean, enjoyable creeks and rivers, launched a Basin Report card in 2020,” said Hernandez. “We wanted to see how healthy our creeks and rivers were throughout the basin. And we had indicators to tell us the grade trash in 2020 and 2021 received an F. We want to address that and we want people to know that how badly trash is affecting the health of our creeks and rivers.”
‘Don’t Let Litter Trash Your River’ initiative
Motivated by this data, and to proactively address the threats to creeks and rivers from trash, the “Don’t Let Litter Trash Your River” initiative aims to educate the communities throughout the basin. A pivotal part of the initiative is to encourage the public to take a pledge to help keep area creeks and rivers clean by not littering and picking up trash when they see it on the ground, whether in their neighborhoods or at area parks and parking lots.
The River Authority is working with the City of San Antonio to promote the Adopt-A-Spot program and will also work with council districts on a city-wide trash cleanup challenge. These efforts will align with the already established free household hazardous waste collection events in Wilson, Karnes, and Goliad counties.
Ready to do your part?
Visit the San Antonio River Authority website to take the “Don’t Let Litter Trash Your River” pledge and take advantage of online resources. The simplest way to get involved is by helping pick up trash when you’re out and about.
Since so many people have a smartphone, the River Authority is also promoting an innovative way to get public involvement and to track the amount of trash that has been collected through the Litterati app, which can be downloaded for free on any Apple or Android device -- and it’s easy to use. You can join the San Antonio River Authority Litterati Challenge once you download the app.
Here’s how it works: Take a pic of the litter via the app before you pick it up, then tag the photo on the app and make sure you discard the trash properly. It’s that easy.
To learn more, click here.