HUECU Volunteers Clean up the Charles for Earth Day

Harvard University Employees Credit Union (HUECU) employees joined 50 volunteers at the 23rd Annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup hosted by the Charles River Conservancy. The volunteers picked up trash and spruced up stretches of the riverbank along Memorial Drive.

“The Charles River is vitally important to Cambridge, Boston and the communities it touches along its 80 mile route. We sometimes forget how we can have an impact on rivers and the environment, both positive and negative,” said Lucas Constanti, Operations & Sustainability Specialist at HUECU. He continued, “The majority of trash that makes its way into the ocean starts in our rivers. Cleaning up the river banks helps take some of that trash out of circulation.”

The group of volunteers picked up trash bags, bottles, shoes and a lot of micro trash (plastic wrappers, bottle caps, and small pieces of plastic). Constanti is grateful to those who volunteered to help and is optimistic more volunteers will pitch in as the environmental initiative expands.

“I have trained for a few marathons by running the Charles River loop – the Museum of Science out to Watertown and back on the other side. About 18 miles on a foot or bike path almost the entire way,” said John Degnan, SVP of Operations, who also volunteered in the cleanup efforts. “We are so lucky to have the Charles and it was great spending even a couple hours to keep it clean!”

The cleanup was done in collaboration with the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Real Estate, Graduate School of Education, Harvard Planning Office, and the Harvard University Office for Sustainability. To learn more about the Charles River Conservancy, visit thecharles.org.