Pollution Mayhem in Springfield
Itβs early Saturday morning, and you are walking through Nathanael Greene Park. The sunrise is just starting to peek over the horizon and through the trees. The sunrise is a beautiful mix of pinks, oranges, and blues. It is the kind of sunrise you wish you could wake up to every morning. You start the walk through the garden and see all the flowers in full bloom and all the colors on full display. You hear the birds chirping and as you walk close to the bridge, you see the ducks that always make their way there to feed on the fish. Off on the other side of the lake, you see a fox make his way into the forest, finishing his morning hunt. It is a beautiful walk around the lake, the park is clean and safe, and the wildlife seems happy.
But just down the road, South of the park on Scenic lays a whole other scene. The road is not clean, it is not safe for wildlife and is heavily polluted. Just south of where those ducks call home, where the ducks and wildlife drink that water, where the fox may hunt for food, lays solid waste pollution that could contaminate the water, harm the wildlife, and contaminate the land with toxins.
James River Freeway is the gateway into our city of Springfield, Mo. It connects multiple cities together and it gives tourists a glance at what our city holds. However, when you arrive on the freeway, you are immediately taken aback by the amount of waste that is littered across the freeway. Wrapped on fences and stuck in drain ways, there is trash littered for miles. Solid waste pollution is a large problem that is affecting our city in a very large way.
Solid waste pollution comes everywhere. There is no one place that solid waste pollution generates or populates from. Private trash trucks do not tarp down their trucks when they load up resulting in trash escaping from the back, cars littering, or people dumping trash in areas that are not designated for waste. When towns such as Springfield do not make trash service mandatory the trash can accumulate around a house and the results are runoff and blow away that can enter water streams and be trapped in vegetation. With so many avenues that pollution can come from it can harm a variety of ecosystems. If pollution enters the waterways, it can harm fish, turtles, and other organisms that grow and live in the water. The toxins in the water can harm the creatures that drink the water as well as us humans who hunt and eat the animals.
According to Carrie Lamb who is the water quality compliance officer here in Springfield there are estimated to be over 600,000 pieces of waste in our waterways and of that 60%, is plastic waste. 600,000 pieces of trash just in the waterways, not even considering what is on the streets and around businesses. That is almost 3 pieces of trash for every citizen here in Springfield. There are also estimated to be almost 50,000 cigarette buds polluting the waters as well. With all that in our waterways, it is causing harm to the wildlife here in the Ozarks as well as contaminating our waters as those plastics start to break down.
Fishing and fishing tournaments are a very large part of outdoor activities here in the Ozarks. People come from all around to fish at Fellows Lake, Table Rock Lake, and Lake Taneycomo. It brings families together and helps provide food for those who catch something for dinner. Imagine that as you reel in that bass or a trout, and you notice something is off with your catch. You bring it up and start to gut what will be your familyβs dinner only to find that it is full of plastic. While you are gutting your trout frying it up and eating it, you do not realize that there are toxins from those microplastics(broken down plastics) lodged in the meat that you cannot see. It is an everyday danger when plastics start breaking down in the water.
βRather than biodegrading, plastic waste often breaks down into tiny pieces known as microplastics (less than 5 mm in size), which are nearly impossible to clean up once they are in the environmentβ. According to the EPA on Aquatic Trash (Learn About Aquatic Trash).Β Having those microplastics in the water can cause the animals to mistake them for food, which can cause them to suffocate or drown. It can also cause them to feel full, so they do not end up eating what they need, and they end up starving themselves. βOnce ingested, this debris can damage their digestive tract and interfere with an animalβs ability to feed, β¦ Scientists have found that at least 558 species, including turtles, seabirds, and marine mammals are reported to have ingested or become entangled in plastic waste.β (Learn About Aquatic Trash). βMicroplastics have been detected in the water around the world, including our streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. In these waterways, the microplastics end up in the water we drink and the fish we eat, including shellfish.β (How does plastic pollution harm water) βOnce the plastic is eaten, it cannot be digested and ends up harming the animal by lodging in the gut. Plastic bags also can suffocate animals.β (How does plastic pollution harm water). Plastic ingestion can trickle up the food chain with humans drinking and eating them. Itβs crucial to our waterways, and forests to keep nature free of these pollutants as they will have long-lasting effects.
Having a safe and clean environment can have a ripple effect across the community. βMissouri has more than 110,000 miles of running water, which is the product of the land surrounding them. Their watersheds consist of uplands, floodplains, stream corridors, stream channels, and groundwater.β (Ozark Streams). As stated by the Missouri Department of Conservation. If we keep these waters clean then we have a safe place to swim, boat, hunt, and hike. All the outdoor stuff that so many families and friends come to Missouri to enjoy.
There is a lot that the community can do to make a large impact on their local environment. Reducing your plastic consumption is the first step big step to making a large impact. There is a reason the reduce is the first of the Reduce Reuse Recycle slogan. If we did not use plastic bags, plastic straws, plastic water or soda bottles, and food wrappers, then none of that would enter the waterways or get stuck in brush and trees. States like New Jersey, New York, and California are starting to ban single-use plastics to help with the plastic consumption and pollution. Reusing what you have also keeps things out of the landfills and recycling centers. Glass jars are a great thing to have as you can use them to store food and drinks as well as use them to refill soaps and cleaners from a local refill store. Recycling is the last defense in the line to keep things out of the landfill. There are three recycling centers in Springfield where you can recycle certain plastics, cardboard, paper, glass, and aluminum. The recycling centers also take other things but there may be a charge for them like mattresses. It is important to have these programs in place in a large city such as Springfield because according to Laurie Davis, there are estimated to be 50-65 years left of the landfill in its current state. According to Bob Belote who is the Director of Parks for the Springfield-Greene County Park Board, βThree years ago, we got a 42-acre expansion, plus a 200-foot vertical expansion to go up from where we initially are, which would make us the second-highest point in Greene County when we top out.β Keeping things out of the landfill and being mindful of what we throw out is a great step for any neighborhood.
In the city of Springfield, there are programs that are coordinated by Laurie Davis who is the Educational Outreach Coordinator which is called Adopt-A-Street and Adopt-A-Stream. βBoth of those are run primarily through our public works department because they provide bags and grabbers for a clean up and those can be done like there's a list of available streets.β Said, Laurie. There is a program run by Rachel Tripp called Clean Green SGF, where volunteer groups meet once or twice a year to tackle larger areas that are heavily polluted, and they clean up those areas. According to their website in the Fall of 2021, they had a total of 300 volunteers who together collected β500 bags of litter were collected from
Springfield roadways, streams, and neighborhoods, totaling approximately 3.84 tons.β (Clean Green Fall 2021 Results). βClean Green volunteers also registered to help support Neighborhood Cleanups resulting in more than 67 tons of trash and bulky items removed from neighborhoods and kept from illegal dump sites.β (Clean Green Fall 2021 Results). Just in the months of October and November, they were able to make that large of an impact here in Springfield. It shows just how large the problem is. But unfortunately, programs like this canβt afford to run throughout the year. The city doesnβt have the manpower. However, neighborhoods can start their own cleanup crews at any point in time. You can recycle at the proper facilities, and you can report any illegal dumping by calling the Citizen Service Request or call 417-864-1010.
Having a clean and safe neighborhood free from solid waste pollution can have a positive impact on the local environment. You can walk, swim, hike, and hunt all without the harm that the pollutants can cause. It makes the neighborhoods look better and in turn, makes the communities and their inhabitants feel better about the city that they live in. Laurie Davis said that the motto is βOur combined efforts make one big impactβ. We need to remember that it will take the whole community coming together, businesses and individuals alike, to make that impact. Trash companies taking responsibility for their trucks having fly away garbage, communities coming together to make their own cleanup crews and partner with citiesβ sustainability departments to get supplies if they are ready, and make sure to dispose of the litter you pick up the proper way. If you have any questions, you can contact the Landfill to see what they accept as well as any of the recycling plants to recycle what you can. Together we can clean and change our city.
