Students work to clean Towson Row stream

By: Cody Boteler, Senior Editor

Over 35 students gathered Saturday morning, braving early alarm clocks and chilly weather to clean trash out of the Towson Run stream, which travels from campus to nearby Lake Roland and then to the Jones Falls.

The stream cleanup, sponsored by the Office of Sustainability, pulled 447 pounds of landfill material out of the water and 71 pounds of recyclable material.

Daniela Beall, graduate assistant for environmental initiatives, said that they also collected construction waste, but have not been able to weigh it yet.

“By going out on our campus and collecting these items, we’re helping keep it from going downstream and ending up in the Bay,” Beall said.

Students traversed the stream, crisscrossing rocks and small rapids, to gather trash that they saw in the stream. The event ran from 9 a.m. to noon.

The nonprofit group Blue Water Baltimore organizes a Better Waterways Fall Cleanup each year, and the Towson Row cleanup was a part of that.

“We’re hoping to do another stream cleanup in the spring, around Earth Day,” Beall said.

In addition to working toward a “cleaner, safer and more beautiful waterway,” participating in a stream cleanup also serves an educational purpose, Beall said.

“Going out and doing the pickup, it’s good, but ultimately we need there to not be trash and recyclable material there in the first place,” Beall said. “Having people go out there and see what happens when stuff is just kind of tossed to the side kind of brings home that these materials don’t stay put wherever you toss them.”

The African Diaspora Club, TKE, the Towson University Investment Group and the Eco Reps all participated in the cleanup.

Beall said that the next big event that is being planned from the sustainability office is RecycleMania, coming up in the spring.