WASHINGTON – Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Kensington, and Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Mechanicsville, committed to creating a trash-free Potomac River watershed by 2013 with a “Trash Treaty” they signed Wednesday.
“The trash in the Potomac is a sign of neglect in the community,” Van Hollen said at the signing. “Getting people to focus on the most visible manifestation of neglect is an important way to get people to focus on their responsibilities.”
The treaty, spearheaded by the Alice Ferguson Foundation, aims to reduce trash, increase recycling and encourage awareness of the issue of debris in the Potomac. The foundation, an environmental education center on Hard Bargain Farm in Accokeek, has worked with partners to gather data about different jurisdictions and map exceptionally dirty trash “hot spots.”
Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan, Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson and Washington Mayor Anthony Williams have already signed on to the treaty.
“It’s very impressive that the Alice Ferguson Foundation has been able to get support at the federal level,” said Meosotis Curtis, senior planning specialist at the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection.
A wide local support system is important, said Ferguson Foundation Executive Director Tracy Bowen, because “trash doesn’t stop at the county line. It doesn’t know jurisdiction.”
The Potomac River is the second-largest tributary to feed into the Chesapeake Bay, and provides some drinking water to Maryland. The river has also experienced other less-visible forms of pollution like algal blooms and oxygen deprivation, according to Dave Goshorn, director of the Resource Assessment Service at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
“Trash obviously is an eyesore and can be a real problem, to a certain degree, but it would not be as big a problem as things that you can’t see,” Goshorn said. “We’d like to see it in better shape than it is.”
“It is essential that we have clean water,” said Bryan Seipp, director of restoration at the Potomac Conservancy — “Clean, clear, drinkable, livable and swimmable.”
The foundation is also sponsoring a trash summit this March at the World Bank.
“We’re very interested in the issue,” said Sarah Matheson, environmental and social sustainability secretariat at the World Bank. “I wish I could do more.”
The possibility of a “bottle bill” was also mentioned at the meeting, where consumers would receive money for turning in recyclable bottles.
“I’m personally in favor of a bottle bill,” Van Hollen said. “I believe it works. People have an incentive not to throw it away and people have an incentive to pick it up.”
Hoyer did not attend the signing, but Bowen said he has been involved with past foundation events.
“I have sunk him thigh high in the mud and he’s come back for more clean ups,” she said.
The foundation holds annual Potomac cleanups and in the 17 so far has collected an estimated 217 tons of trash, including 889 tires, eight refrigerators and one bird cage. But those collections aren’t enough.
“We’re not seeing (the Potomac) getting any better for us,” Bowen said. “We decided we needed to ramp things up.”