SAUGUS — A cleanup of Stocker Playground, which is part of the Saugus River Watershed, will take place on Sunday.
Former New England Patriots quarterback and 98.5 The Sports HUB broadcaster Scott Zolak will participate in the event, which is sponsored by WIN Waste Innovations.
“One of the reasons why we feel that this is such a great event is that we are able to not only clean up the location, but also the Bear Creek Wildlife Sanctuary is able to participate in an educational component,” said Geoff Wilson, co-manager at WIN Waste Innovations at Bear Creek Wildlife Sanctuary.
The event will take place at Stocker Playground from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event will include learning stations on the local environmental challenges and solutions, raking and bagging trash, as well as the interviews with community leaders and members, WIN employees, and students. Zolak will be there from 10 to 11 a.m.
According to Wilson, during the event the community will not be just picking up the general litter, but it also will be looking to go out and capture plastics from the saltmarsh that is adjacent to the park.
“One of our strong beliefs is that we can have a really big impact on reducing the amount of microplastics and nano plastics in the environment if we can go out and do these community cleanups where we capture these macroplastics,” said Wilson.
Macroplastics are the larger pieces of plastics — bottles, pieces of foam packaging, or whatever it is “when it is in the large state,” Wilson said. Over time these items, when they are in the environment, break down into smaller bits called microplastics and nano plastics.
When larger pieces of plastics get into the smaller pieces, they are harder to capture. They also become mobile and can pass through the waterway out into the ocean. They can even become small enough to be ingested by fish and other wildlife, and “sort of get incorporated in their bodies,” according to Wilson.
Saltmarsh-related issues will also come up during the cleanup. One of the species of endangered birds called saltmarsh sparrows live in the saltmarshes. The ecologists have noted a significant yearly decline in the saltmarsh-sparrow population.
“The Bear Creek Wildlife Sanctuary has worked with a team of researchers for about 10 years developing a saltmarsh restoration and saltmarsh-sparrow-recovery strategy,” said Wilson.
That strategy, Wilson said, focuses on preserving the existing carbon stores that are preserved in the saltmarsh soils and then optimizing primary production of the saltmarsh plants so that they increase their ability to pull carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the soils.
“And when they store that carbon in the soils, they actually increase the elevation of the soils, providing a better nesting habitat for the saltmarsh sparrow,” said Wilson.
The Earth Day cleanup in Saugus is sponsored and organized by WIN Waste Innovations, which describes itself as being committed to reliable waste and recycling solutions and sustainability at every step in the process.
“They are a green solution in the waste-management industry,” said Wilson.
For more information on WIN Waste Innovations, visit https://www.win-waste.com/about-us/our-team/.
