In honor of June 5, National Trails Day, Raritan Branch volunteers again set out to Butterfly Park. This time, we collected trash around the park, picking up and disposing of plastic bottles, containers, and all other manner of litter we found scattered about.
As spring’s advance to summer invites ever more visitors to Butterfly Park, so too does it invite litter from the careless among them. By meticulously scanning the park for trash, we were able to cover a large area, eventually filling a 13-gallon garbage bag with waste before calling it a day. During our work, we found plastic bottles hidden in the foliage, disposable utensils tossed under the benches, and even a large pizza box just barely out of sight. It was a bittersweet experience, the vast amount of litter both shocking to find and liberating to expel. With high hopes and spirits, we left Butterfly Park much cleaner than we found it.
Giving the gift of cleanliness, we hope that this park becomes even healthier, even happier, and even cleaner in the future, one difference at a time.
Volunteers: Amy Xu (1.5 hours), Raymond Hu (1.5 hours), Xinning Lucy Liu (1 hour), Vivian Sun (1.5 hours), Alicia Xu (1.5 hours), Kevin Xu (1.5 hours), Jason Liu (1 hour), Kevin Ho (1 hour), Angelina Xu (1 hour)