JB Green Team wraps up 2024 Ohio River Sweep
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KNOX TOWNSHIP -- The morning of Aug. 9, Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy Ben Swoyer and a group of helpers picked through the brush along Old Route 7, which runs alongside the Ohio River between Toronto and Empire.
Over two miles, the group collected 40 bags of garbage, as well as 10 tires, two TVs and a couch.
Swoyer, who's been helping clean around the river since he was a Boy Scout in the 1990s, now serves as Jefferson County's environmental enforcement officer, a position sponsored in part by the solid waste authority with the goal of prosecuting cases of littering and illegal dumping.
"The river's kind of neglected," Swoyer commented afterward. "We need to take better care of it."
The effort was part of the Jefferson-Belmont Regional Solid Waste Authority's participation in the annual Ohio River Sweep, a multi-state initiative aimed at cleaning up parts of the river's roughly 3,000 miles of shoreline and many of the watershed's tributaries.
Sweeps have been organized by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, Foundation for Ohio River Education and state environmental protection agencies since 1989. Originally taking place all on one date in a given year, the sweeps span six states: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Also founded in 1989, the Jefferson-Belmont Regional Solid Waste Authority -- known as the JB Green Team -- rallies volunteers to participate in the river sweep each year, equipped with supplies and commemorative T-shirts provided by ORSANCO.
"Unfortunately, we don't seem to be finding any less litter," said Louise Holliday, the JB Green Team's Jefferson County environmental educator. "Some years we do, some years we don't. It just depends."
Holliday said this year's five sweeps in Jefferson County have been assisted by a total of 89 volunteers, cleaning areas in Rayland, at the Steubenville Marina, along Old Route 7 and twice around Seven Creeks Road.
Covering 6.5 total miles, the sweeps have yielded 315 bags of garbage, totaling around 10,475 pounds, according to Holliday's estimate. Also picked up were four bags, or 95 pounds, of materials capable of being recycled; 29 tires, totaling 688.5 pounds, and 1,560 pounds of additional materials, including sofas, mattresses and shopping carts.
The Aug. 9 sweep will be the JB Green Team's last sweep before the end of the year, Holliday said.
The JB Green Team typically hosts one sweep each in Jefferson and Belmont counties, Holliday said, but this year the need was present to host more. She added that Swoyer has helped in organizing the additional outings.
Swoyer, who's used the help of Jefferson County community service program participants in his sweeps, acknowledged it's not possible to clean along the entire 34 miles of river in Jefferson County, but it's his goal to hit as much as possible.
It's in everyone's best interest to keep the Ohio River clean, Swoyer said, noting the recreational and industrial reliance on the Ohio River.
"There's a lot of jobs that depend on that river," he said.
Although the JB Green Team won't be resuming its official sweep efforts until next year, Swoyer pointed out that any individual can host a local cleanup and receive equipment from the Green Team. If there's a serious issue, Swoyer said he's "more than willing" to assemble a team to help tackle a particularly messy area, and he's already got a couple of areas in the queue for attention.