ISLE OF DOGS––More than 35 students from the University of London traded a few hours in bed for a few hours on the inside bend of the River Thames as part of the 2007 Cleaner Thames Challenge, hosted by environmental charity Thames21 to commemorate World Rivers Day on 30 September. During last week’s four-day challenge, 250 volunteers from all over London scrapped 11 tons of litter and over 25,000 plastic bags from the muddy dregs of the city’s chief waterway.
“Last year, we had the same number of volunteers over five days instead of four days, so that’s a 20% increase,” River Programmes Coordinator Matthew Loveday told London Student.
Decked out in black rubber boots and red vinyl gloves, volunteers trudged through ankle-deep sludge during low tide, digging up plastic bags and other rubbish embedded in the river deposits. Because the slowest flow of the Thames is on the inside bend, garbage that is blown away from the streets or littered by pedestrians accrues in the thick sediment and remains hidden until high tide. Says Loveday: “If we don’t pick up the rubbish here, no one will.”
Overall, participants from the University of London deemed the event a success.
“I was really impressed by the organizational skills of the Thames21 staff,” said Alex Popov, a first-year student at UCL. “They had all the equipment, except maybe futuristic hover-boots of some sort, as I was up to my knees in mud, although I can say with overwhelming pride that I didn’t fall down once.”
For some, like Marlijn Noback, who is getting her MSc in Human Evolution and Behavior at UCL, the Cleaner Thames Challenge was their first time doing environmental volunteer work.
“As a biologist, I felt the urge to finally do something myself instead of just talking about environmental issues,” said Noback, who gave nature tours to tourists last summer on the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog. “I have even more respect now for people who dedicate time to the environment.”
But Jennie Cowan, former Environment and Ethics Officer at ULU and third-year Human Sciences BSc student at UCL, found the steep sediment just too hard to manage.
“I think they could have used the 40 keen volunteers there a lot more productively had we been moved to a patch of the Thames shore that was easier to walk on, and where the trash was easier to spot without having to dig around for it,” Cowan explained. “Also, the gloves they gave us were not needle-proof, and we were picking out sanitary towels and all other horrors. Still, I met some nice people, but no, I won’t be rushing back!”
One notable volunteer at the Saturday event was Murad Qureshi, Chair of the Mayor’s London Waterways Commission (LWC). The London Assembly member commended local volunteers for stepping up and assuming responsibility for their waterways. “Events and efforts like the Cleaner Thames Challenge illustrate how Londoners are rediscovering their waterways and, in particular, the Thames, culturally, spiritually, and on a practical basis,” Qureshi told London Student.
And to the delight of environmentalists, Qureshi added: “‘After seeing first hand the damage that plastic bags can do to the foreshore of the Thames, they certainly need to be banned.”
