By keeping plastic litter out of our rivers and streams, we keep our drinking water safer, make our oceans healthier and improve our climate resilience.
For the past 50 years, Asheville GreenWorks has been leading river and road cleanups to keep our community a healthy and beautiful place to live.
Most of what we collect during our river cleanups is single-use plastic and styrofoam food packaging that blows out of the back of garbage trucks or is thrown from car windows.
Our cleanups prevent this litter from poisoning our waterways.
No one wants to walk out their front door and see litter in the places their kids will play.
The question we always get is:
“What can I do about it?”
Our answer is: “Clean it up.”
We equip volunteers to carry out hundreds of river and road cleanups each year.
As long as food packaging exists, we may never be able to “solve” the problem of litter. But we can educate residents on the sources of litter and offer them fun, safe ways to help remove the litter that’s impacting their own neighborhoods and the places they love to play.
In our 50-year history of river and road cleanups, our community of dedicated volunteers has:
Cleaned up a cumulative 6,860 miles of our rivers & waterways
Picked up 2.4 million pounds of trash from our rivers and roads
Removed 68,000 tires from the French Broad River
Mobilized over 150,000
cleanup volunteers
Asheville Greenworks was founded in 1973 in direct, urgent response to the area’s litter problem. Since then, we have led community-wide and region-wide efforts to keep our rivers and roadsides litter free.
Your gift supports the robust cleanup programs that engage thousands of volunteers each year in events to clear our waterways of litter.
You support guided cleanups for school and scout groups, local businesses, students on spring break, and out-of-town visitors. On these tours, participants learn about the importance of the river, the sources of litter, and what they can do to help around their own homes and in their communities at large.
You allow us to maintain a closet of river waders, trash pickers, and other supplies that help us make cleanups accessible to a diverse group of volunteers.
You let us purchase trash bags, safety vests, sharps containers supplies to outfit community members who want to lead their own DIY cleanups.
You also help us maintain the fleet of trucks, canoes, and kayaks that make it possible to collect riverborn trash and dispose of it properly.
Donate Now
Will you give a gift now to keep our cleanups moving forward?
More Ways to Give
Donate your boat, canoe or kayak
We take your old watercraft and give it new life as part of our river cleanup programs.
Set up a sponsored cleanup
Schedule a team activity that shows your community how much you’re invested in creating a climate-resilient Asheville.
Join our StreamKeeper Team
Our StreamKeepers are dedicated waterway guardians who take the lead on projects to protect local waterways.
Join us!