Trinity River trash buildup was already a huge challenge. COVID-19 hasn’t helped.
With their entertainment options limited by the COVID-19 pandemic, Fort Worth residents flocked to city parks and the Trinity Trails this summer in the hopes of safely enjoying some sunshine and scenic nature views. At times, the influx of visitors led to overflowing trash cans and overworked maintenance staff trying to keep up with demand.
Laurie Stelljes, who has participated in Fort Worth nature cleanups for the past decade, walks the trails regularly and saw the increased traffic to outdoor areas in real time. What stood out to her, though, was an issue that has concerned water district officials, city leaders and residents for years: the visible buildup of trash in the Trinity River, and the litter along city streets and sidewalks that causes it.
With more people enjoying nature, the eyesore and environmental consequences of water bottles, Styrofoam and single-use plastic bags in the Trinity is even more pronounced, Stelljes said. She is especially concerned about animals ingesting plastics and the impact of plastic pollution on water quality.
“There’s got to be something that can be done to instill a little pride in our area,” Stelljes, an executive committee member of the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club, said. “You want tourists to come and enjoy our river because it’s beautiful. You don’t want them to go home thinking, ‘God, I liked Fort Worth but there was so much trash.’”
The trash pollution issue did not start with the uptick in people using outdoor facilities during the COVID-19 crisis, nor will it end when the pandemic subsides, according to Tarrant Regional Water District officials and residents who regularly volunteer to clean the river.
But the pandemic did lead the Tarrant Regional Water District to cancel its spring Trash Bash and prevented smaller groups from gathering to clean up their adopted parts of the river, which led to additional trash accumulation.
“Obviously we would have liked to have that because it does make a difference, but this trash is an ongoing problem,” said Chad Lorance, a spokesperson for the Tarrant Regional Water District. “Those are great events because they help create awareness of the trash problem, but really just through the year, there’s a lot of trash that we collect as well.”
In addition to delivering raw water to municipal treatment plants, the water district is responsible for maintaining and cleaning 27 miles of the Trinity River floodway, which encompasses the Fort Worth portion of the river as well as seven lakes. Now, as Tarrant Regional Water prepares for its larger fall Trash Bash on Sept. 19-20, district officials are urging residents to reconsider when throwing trash out a car window or leaving litter on a trail path.
“We’re reaching a point, because of the popularity of the trails, where we need to start instilling a sense of responsibility to people who are out there,” said Valerie Jay, a recreational consultant who is organizing the Trash Bash for the water district. “There needs to be understanding that if there isn’t a trash can, that just means you need to carry it until you find a trash can, or don’t plan to have trash with you.”
Source of Trinity trash: city streets
Overflowing garbage bins and litter were common issues during the heights of the pandemic lockdown, when more families were visiting parks and the Trinity Trails, said Jim Oliver, the general manager of the water district. Since Fort Worth ISD kicked off online classes this month, Oliver suspects that the amount of traffic to the area will die down and not require Tarrant Regional Water to place more trash cans along the trail.
At the same time, Fort Worth park and water district officials want to encourage residents to take their trash with them when they finish eating or drinking, especially if nearby trash cans are full, said Sandra Youngblood, the city’s assistant parks director.
“We have somewhat discussed this: What would happen if we removed trash cans?” Youngblood said. “Because people are like: We need more trash cans. But if you embrace the concept of, ‘If I pack it in, I need to pack my own out,’ how would that change the mindset?”
There are currently 40 bins maintained by the water district along the 27 miles of the Trinity Trails, Lorance said. While Stelljes and Sierra Club members would like to see more cans and the addition of recycling bins, Lorance said the issue is almost beside the point because up to 95 percent of garbage in the river comes from city streets and the drainage system.
“There are probably certain locations along the river that the trash cans are being very well used, but most of the trash that you see in and around the river came from the city streets, being blown over and washed down the drain during storm events,” Lorance said.
Trash buildup is particularly pronounced right after heavy rains, Jay said, and this is especially true at Pedestrian Bridge behind the Old South Pancake House on University Drive. The water district has a device in place to catch floating trash before it flows downstream, which can make the buildup “momentarily unsightly” before cleanup crews collect the garbage, Jay said.
Earlier this month, Tim Kaastad joined a group of Sierra Club members at the bridge to discuss their concerns. He has followed litter from Lake Como Park to where it meets the Trinity, near the intersection of Chisholm Trail Parkway and Hulen Street. If city parks were maintained with river pollution in mind, Kaastad said, the water district might face fewer challenges with cleaning up the litter later.
“There’s some trash piles in Como that are 10 years old,” Kaastad said, noting the need for Fort Worth officials to enforce compliance with city codes. “The city has to treat Como Park with dignity and respect.”
Activists seek solutions beyond ‘Reverse Litter’
Tarrant Regional Water District runs a number of initiatives to encourage groups and individuals to clean areas around the Trinity, including the Adopt-a-River and Adopt-a-Drain programs. Fort Worth runs similar programs for businesses and other groups to clean their adopted parks and medians, Youngblood said.
In addition, the water district partnered with city governments in Denton, Dallas and Fort Worth on the “Reverse Litter” campaign, a public education effort launched in 2012. The campaign has encouraged residents to take the Ten on Tuesday pledge to pick up 10 pieces of trash per week.
“We’re constantly messaging how important it is to pick up our trash and to not let it get to our river because it is such a great asset we have in Fort Worth,” Lorance said.
In the eyes of John MacFarlane, that messaging is not as effective as legislative action like plastic bag bans, which he believes would help reduce the amount of plastic in the Trinity. MacFarlane, the chairman of the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club, pointed to a 2018 Texas Supreme Court decision finding that Laredo’s ban on single-use plastic bags violated state law, effectively stopping Texas cities from implementing their own bans.
“I just don’t think the city or the Tarrant Regional Water District can do enough to make people cognizant of their trash,” MacFarlane said. “The Texas legislature can enact a law that allows a plastic bag to not be [considered] a container so cities can then enact ordinances to regulate single-use plastic bags. At the same time, they can also include Styrofoam as well.”
Kathryn Hansen, who created a Facebook group in April focused on eco-friendly eating and shopping in Fort Worth, said that local restaurants could also be part of the solution by providing biodegradable takeout containers rather than the typical Styrofoam or plastic. Kaastad called for more collaboration with neighborhood leaders to find out what is driving trash buildup in their communities and who is best equipped to resolve it.
What it comes down to, Stelljes said, is finding solutions to preserve the Trinity and the city’s nature areas for generations to come.
“[The trash buildup] says we don’t really care about our generation, the next generation, the next generation, because we think everything is disposable, and that makes me very sad,” Stelljes said. “It needs to be turned around so that we see nature for the beauty that it is.”
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
