Saturday we surpassed a total of 10,000 lbs of plastic trash that we community
volunteers have removed by hand from Lake Hiawatha, our most trash polluted
lake. This is equivalent to 10 City of Minneapolis dump trucks full of plastic
trash. It represents thousands of hours of labor to preserve an ecology. a
lake, and its wildlife that should be sacred. In 2015 we presented a petition
to the City and MPRB (Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board) asking for
comprehensive stormwater treatment for the 920 acre pipeshed that discharges
tons of trash and pollution unfiltered into Lake Hiawatha. The MPRB and the
City of Minneapolis have had eight years to figure this out and as we pass this
horrific milestone of 10,000 lbs still nothing has changed. 3 different park
boards have failed to act, we are still holding out hope for the present board.
Despite our monumental effort, trash and other pollution still chokes the Lake
and pollutes downstream waters..
Some interesting facts about the 500 full contractor bags of trash and counting
that we have removed from the Lake:
Lake Hiawatha trash is 91.5% plastic and is mostly micro and mesoplastics (City
Lake Hiawatha Litter Report)
Each bag weighs at least 20 lbs before it is counted.
Each bag of trash from Lake Hiawatha contains an average of 1,267 trash
items. And takes an average of three to four hours of labor for a hard working
adult to collect one full bag. (2019 FOLH Lake Hiawatha Trash Survey)
All told, a total of 633,500 individual pieces of trash were picked by hand.
The most common trash materials are:
1. WRAPPERS AND PLASTIC FILM 125,833 items
2. PLASTIC BOTTLE CAPS 121,300 items
3. STYROFOAM 111,800 items
4. PLASTIC SHARDS 98,567 items
Selected aggregates of trash items collected include:
3,948 toxic trash items, including: 2,264 disposable lighters. Also numerous
spray paint cans, bug spray, pesticides, batteries, air fresheners, adhesives,
automotive fluids, etc.
3,593 beauty products.
2,264 biohazard trash items,
Including:
1,133 hypodermic needles,
366 used condoms
266 used diapers.
Most of the trash we collect is no longer identifiable by brand name, but we
were able to identify the brand names and parent corporation of many trash
items and were thus able to calculate the top parent corporations represented
in the trash collected at Lake Hiawatha.
The top producers of trash materials found at Lake Hiawatha are:
PepsiCo Frito-Lay
CocaCola
McDonalds
The source of most of this trash is the 43rd street pipe or north pipe which
empties into Lake Hiawatha on its north side, draining 920 acres South
Minneapolis, without filtration, directly into Lake Hiawatha. Additional
sources include Lake Minnetonka and upstream storm water pipes draining into
Minnehaha Creek. A relatively small proportion of the trash comes from users of
the Park. Pollution at Lake Hiawatha impacts downstream waters including the
Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.
Additional pollutants impacting Lake Hiawatha from stormwater pollution and
golf course pumping combined include phosphorus, bacteria, chemical pollutants,
chlorides and more. 4 tons of phosphorus into impaired Lake Hiawatha since 2015
from golf course pumping and the 43rd street pipe stormwater discharge
combined.
Letās not forget that Lake Hiawatha is a critical habitat for more than 250
species of animals and is a key stop for migrating birds along the Mississippi
River Flyway.
Thanks!
Friends of Lake Hiawatha