“Every day is Earth Day,” says Xavier Courouble, a Greenbelt resident who is regularly engaged in caring for Greenbelt Lake, cleaning litter from the area and tackling invasive species there.
From January to March this year Courouble spent more than two dozen hours removing trash from around the lake. His efforts yielded 12 trash bags of litter from the shoreline and walking path.
Since Courouble moved to Greenbelt in November 2021 he has volunteered around the lake, mostly removing invasive plants. It was while spending time as a “weed warrior,” that he said he noticed the accumulation of litter on the shoreline. Therefore, he began, once a week, to pick up litter left along the trail and over the water, “wherever my litter grabber could reach,” he said. It recently took him 27 hours, spread over several weeks, to cover the total perimeter of the lake, a distance of 1.2 miles. Making a full circuit of the perimeter path over the span of two-and-a-half months gave Courouble insight into the amount and types of litter impacting the lake. He carefully tabulated his results, interested in a picture of the lake’s overall health and the extent of the litter problem.
Types of Litter
The most prevalent item of litter Courouble picked up was plastic bottle tops (approximately 270); a close second was tennis balls (247) and, third, plastic water bottles (236). There were also miscellaneous items of which there were fewer than 10 that he noted but didn’t include in the table. The miscellany included baseballs, fishing floats, dog poop bags, plastic items like children’s toys, shoes, socks, a Public Works cone and even a desk chair.
Curbing Tennis Balls
Courouble would like to see Councilmember Rodney Roberts reiterate his April 2007 request for “city staff to look at ways to keep stray balls out of the stream that eventually flows to the lake,” he shared. Though there are trash and recycling bins at the tennis courts, the surrounding area is frequently littered with tennis balls. He also thinks it might help to display visible signage reminding visitors to the courts to dispose of their trash and perhaps have an educational campaign to make people aware of the impact of littering. He also thinks doors could be installed along the tennis courts to enable players to more easily retrieve their balls from the watershed area.
Courouble points out that the 2019 Recreation and Park Facilities Master Plan states in its assessment of Buddy Attick Park that “it does not appear that the current level of maintenance at the site is sufficient to abate the high level of wear and tear the grounds and facilities receive through consistent heavy use.” The plan records that the popular park “is being loved to death.” Courouble is concerned that the master plan doesn’t address the presence or protection of wildlife and plant habitat in the area.
Food Containers, Utensils
“[P]lastic, glass and aluminum items from the restaurant and food services industry are ending up in disproportionate numbers in our lake, thus posing a variety of health and environmental hazards,” says Courouble. Buddy Attick Park is a popular picnicking and grilling area and Courouble would like to see legislation address the pollution from discarded food items and utensils.
He’d also love to see more volunteers, a biannual sweep-the-lake event and regular weed warrior group activity in the area.