Sounding Board

Riverkeeper reflects on trash cleanup

 

In 10 years of river cleanup, we've found everything from 100-year-old wagon wheels to freshly dumped tires. We've removed about 225,000 pounds of trash with almost 10,000 volunteers. This effort by the community solidifies one thing: Spokane wants a clean river.

What surprises me, however, is that the river isn't getting cleaner. Each year, we collect more trash—68,000 pounds in 2024. Other organizations and groups in Spokane find the same thing. Riverine trash is a growing problem that is not being solved by cleanup alone.

To solve the issue of litter, we're working on identifying the types of trash. Plastic and textiles make up the bulk.

How litter gets there matters as well. We estimate that more than half of our trash comes from unsheltered individuals living along the river. That's about 40,000 pounds this year, with many times that removed by the City of Spokane. We need to manage the impact of camps.

Spokane currently fields complaints about campers along the river and responds by removing the camps. The unsheltered individuals are asked to leave and, in some cases, cited for trespassing. The associated trash is bagged by a large team of employees.

Some camps exceed 10,000 pounds of trash that take days to remove. Where trash cannot be hiked out, the Spokane Riverkeeper floats it out. However, as soon as the camps are gone, others grow in their place.

Spokane Riverkeeper's policy is to not report camps, to avoid criminalizing homelessness. We float the river with outreach and medical service professionals, handing out empty trash bags and collecting full bags—acting like a floating medical clinic, resource center and garbage truck.

We collected 123 full bags of trash last year, the same number we distributed, showing that, if given the resources, campers want to keep the river clean.

This is successful at a small scale. We're a small program and can't be on the river everywhere.

Effective models exist that control solid waste from homeless camps without criminalizing unsheltered individuals. The Russian Riverkeeper in Sonoma, Calif., combines bagged trash removal, outreach and a clean camp program. They've employed individuals with lived experience to help clean up trash and communicate the need for a clean river. We can do this in Spokane. Ideally, camps would have constant visits from employees with lived experience who support clean camp principles and the values of a clean river. Trash could be removed and collected weekly. Abandoned camps could be cleaned up immediately. Using trained individuals avoids the risk to volunteers dealing with difficult-to-manage waste while reducing costs associated with camper removal and cleanup by the city.

The community needs a new vision to clean up trash in Spokane, especially along the river. We need a vision that 1) better manages the impacts of unsheltered individuals, and 2) incorporates and organizes the efforts of clean-up and outreach teams already working locally.

Waterkeeper Jule Schultz
Spokane Riverkeeper