On a cool Saturday morning, 77 volunteers from across the Tri-Cities region descended on the Appomattox River with gloves, bags, and determination to keep our parks, river, and drinking water clean! Groups from Perdue Farms in Prince George, Gerdau Steel Mill in Petersburg, and soldiers from Fort Lee (pictured above) rallied together with FOLAR board members and volunteers at five different public access points along the 22+mile riverfront. Together, we removed or recycled…
- 115 bags of trash
- 28 tires
- 2 buckets of plastic bottles to recycle
- 1 office chair *
- 1 gallon of motor oil
- and 1 air mattress!
Special thanks to Meridian Waste and Virginia American Water for their support, to Trapezium Brewing Company who hosted a “first drink on us!” volunteer meet-up afterwards, and thanks to Sidd Kumar for coming out to take photos!
The Appomattox River is part of the James River watershed as well as the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The next clean-ups in 2022 are June 4 (co-hosted by Chesapeake Bay Foundation) and September 10 (co-hosted by JRAC – James River Advisory Council). Subscribe to our newsletter to receive volunteer opportunities and river/trail updates!
See photos from the April 30 Volunteer River Clean-up on FOLAR’s Facebook Album.

Ben Uzel tows a canoe full of tires, an office chair, and trash along the riverfront at Pocahontas Island in Petersburg.