Exclusive: Volunteer group cleans up the Passaic River, one tire at a time
North Jersey resident Rob Gillies leads a volunteer group, the NJ Clean River Crew, that pulled 400 tires - filling a dumpster - from the Passaic River earlier this month.
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No one wants to see tires and trash floating down New Jersey’s rivers, so North Jersey resident Rob Gillies is doing something to change it.
He leads a volunteer group, the NJ Clean River Crew, that pulled 400 tires - filling a dumpster - from the Passaic River earlier this month.
“It was the biggest single-day haul we've had,” Gillies said.
Gillies let News 12 tag along for his return to the Passaic one week later. He started this journey after noticing on his canoe trips how much trash fills up the Garden State.
"I just automatically started picking up stuff I'd see in the river, until it got to the point where I'd just fill the canoe every time,” Gillies said.
Gillies says the trash pollutes the waters that wildlife call home, and that people recreate in.
“It's a breaking down of plastics getting washed in,” Gillies said. “Styrofoam is probably the worst of it. There’s the leaking of chemicals used to make the tire, into the water stream.”
The tires are the headliners, but the crew has seen just about everything from frying pans, shopping carts, and bicycle parts.
“If people see that there's already trash there, it's kind of a green light for them to dispose of whatever they have,” Gillies said. “If you see something on the ground, just pick it up.”
There's more information about the NJ Clean River Crew here. The group also works closely with Hackensack Riverkeeper and New Jersey Litter Picker for statewide cleanup.
