Lowcountry volunteers do their part to clean up, celebrating Earth Day

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD)- Today is Earth Day and the Lowcountry is doing its part to make the Earth a better and cleaner place.

Nearly 100 volunteers met to pick up trash along Hagood Avenue and Gadsden Creek, coming away with about 15 trash bags full of litter.

“We rounded up a group of employees to see how much litter we could pick up today,” Volunteer, Monifa Ellington said.

Volunteers focused on the Hagood Avenue area along with the creek, because it’s the last tidal creek left in Downtown Charleston and a problem area for litter.

“There is an especially big problem here because Gadsden Creek floods on a regular basis, topples over rolling bins full of trash and that debris makes its way into the roadways and into the creek,” Senior Manager of the SC Aquarium Conservation Center, Kelly Thorvalson said.

Thorvalson says it’s an important area to pay attention to because of the greater impact a dirty Gadsden Creek has on the Lowcountry’s ecosystem.

“All of the debris that lands on Gadsden Creek will make its way through flooding and rain into the creek and into the Ashley River. So, it’s a really important area to keep clean,” Thorvalson said.

Volunteers say it feels good to protect the environment in this way, and also make people more proud to live in Charleston.

“Look right over there, there’s a neighborhood right across the street from the creek, so when you talk about that trash flowing into not just this field, but it’s going into their neighborhood and backyard as well. Being able to have that sense of pride when you come home and not seeing that litter all over the place is important,” Ellington said.

You can do your part on Earth Day and every day to make the earth cleaner by picking up trash in your community.