Cape Fear River Watch, volunteers clean up trash at Greenfield Lake

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — More than fifty people gathered at Greenfield Lake Saturday morning to help Cape Fear River Watch clean up trash that has been littered around the Wilmington landmark.

People were able to pick up garbage along the shore, as well as take kayaks, canoes, and paddle-boats out on the lake to sweep the water.

Volunteers were instructed to keep trash separate from recyclable items.

One of the organizers, Anna Grubbs, says that if people don’t keep areas like Greenfield Lake clean, there can be negative consequences.

“There’s a lot of different impacts that we’ve seen in the area, more with fisheries and ocean with microplastics and everything getting into our food source and contaminating food sources because of trash,” said Grubbs. “It can definitely affect the animals here as well, there are plenty of animals here at Greenfield Lake.”

Cape Fear River Watch picks a different location around Wilmington on the second Saturday of each month to gather trash and recyclables to keep our community clean.