Bikes and more pulled from Red Cedar at community cleanup
EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – While Earth Day is getting closer and closer, landscape crews at Michigan State University wanted to take the term ‘go green’ to the next level on their first ever community Red Cedar River cleanup.
Last summer, 6 News reported on how more than 100 electric scooters were pulled from the river, and during Friday’s cleanup, staff pulled at least ten bicycles and said there’s much more to be found.
“We find a lot of bikes, a lot of scooters, bike racks, a lot of boards, traffic cones, traffic barrels,” MSU Landscape Services Manager Matt Bailey said. “So, we’ve got all of our staff, about 100 individuals that we’re going to focus on cleaning up the red cedar river today.”
Work included magnet fishing, picking up litter, removing invasive species, and protecting campus pollinator gardens.
“It’s really just an outreach event to try and engage with the community to come on to campus and show what we do. And the river, you know, it’s a resource, it runs through the middle of campus. Exposing it, showing best practices, and just really getting together,” he added.
While staff with MSU’s Infrastructure Planning and Facilities typically works around the river periodically throughout the year, community members were able to join in on Friday.
“I’ve picked up about 15 pieces of very small garbage,” Eric Tans said, who attended cleanup efforts. “It’s really exciting to see the people come together, I was surprised to see how many people are here and it’s really energizing and it kind of goes to show how much people appreciate the river.”
Bikes that are pulled from the river that are in good condition will usually be held with other discarded bikes on campus. If no owner comes forward, the bikes will eventually be transferred to the MSU Surplus Store and Recycling Center for a future bike sale.
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