Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper hosted the third annual Spring Sweep event on Earth Day, April 22, inviting members of the community to sites across Buffalo to clean up litter and trash before it enters the waterways and Great Lakes. The community assistance goes beyond just picking up the trash however. Jennifer Fee, director of communications and marketing, says the Clean Swell app allows volunteers to collect important data on the litter they find. “It can be detailed notes about the brand or item, but most importantly, we’re using that data to calculate how much trash we picked up,” she said, “and all of that data comes together to make a really strong case for what waterways we need to advocate for.” By Andrew DiMartino
