Volunteers Need for Holmes Run Cleanup

Volunteers will descend on Holmes Run Park Saturday for the semi-annual cleanup of the waterway that flows through West End Alexandria.

Volunteers are needed to help pick trash and litter from the creek from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Participants should meet at the Beatley Bridge, located at the intersection of North Pickett Street and Holmes Run Parkway.

Garbage bags will be provided, but volunteers will need to bring their own work gloves, boots and other gear that might help during the cleanup.  

Organizer Mary Zoeter said the cleanup has been taking place for the past 15 years.

“If you use the park, you can take part in keeping it clean,” she said. “That’s the thing we have trash cans, but we have a lot of people who don’t know how to use them. So if you want to the park to look good, you should come out and help clean it up.”

The waterway carries plastic that ends up flowing into the Potomac River, Zoeter said. Cleanup volunteers most often collect plastic bags, six-pack rings, beer cans, glass and paper, although bicycles and shopping carts have also been found in the past, she said.

All recyclable materials retrieved from the park will be recycled, she said. Additionally, volunteers usually retrieve about 15 to 20 bags of trash.

For more information, call 703-461-3283. The rain date is Saturday, Nov. 10.

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