Fairhaven’s Marsh Island Cleanup Pulls 4,000 Pounds of Waste

The Buzzards Bay Coalition just pulled off one of the most shocking environmental cleanups I’ve seen in a long time, and it’s happening right in Fairhaven.

Over the past week, Senior Restoration Ecologist Sara Quintal and her crew have been on Marsh Island, just off Taber Street, hauling trash by the ton.

Not bags. Tons.

This is the same land where they just reopened trails after restoring six full acres of salt marsh that had been buried beneath dredging sand from the 1930s. So the center of the island was restored, and now they’re attacking the edges.

The Edges Were Worse Than Anyone Expected

Quintal said the tidal trash problem at Marsh Island is next-level. This isn’t just a little litter.

This is decades of Dunkin’ cups, water bottles, straws, plastic bags, nips, floating oil booms – everything the harbor pushed up and trapped along the shoreline.

Courtesy Sara Quintal

Some spots had literal feet of trash piled into the sand.

Fifty Giant “Super Sacks” Filled So Far

These aren’t normal trash bags. Quintal explained they’re approximately four feet by four feet by five feet. You could fit about six humans inside one, and they’ve filled about 50 of them already.

A Coalition of Partners and 100+ Local Volunteers

The effort is massive, and no one group could do it alone. Dozens of partners are in this cleanup, including:

Buzzards Bay Coalition
Center for Coastal Studies
Operation Clean Sweep
Be The Solution to Pollution
Fairhaven Acushnet Land Preservation Trust
Town of Fairhaven
City of New Bedford

Plus support from SNEP (EPA Southeast New England Program), Bask with coffee and donuts, and Domino’s with pizza for volunteers.

Saturday: There’s Still One More Push and Volunteers Are Welcome

This four-day effort wrapped up on Wednesday, November 5, and if anyone wants to help, more hands are still welcome. The final volunteer push is this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., timed perfectly with low tide. Anyone who wants to roll up their sleeves and be part of the solution is invited to just show up at the Taber Street side of Marsh Island in Fairhaven.

Courtesy Sara Quintal

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Closed-toe shoes required. Gloves will be provided.

Final Thought From Quintal

Before we ended our conversation, Quintal left me with one simple message for the SouthCoast.

“Just… think twice before tossing anything on the ground," she said. "Everything is connected to the water. Reuse when you can. Reduce when you can. It makes a real difference.”

Here’s a closer look at what volunteers are pulling out of our harbor this week:

Fairhaven Trash Cleanup Pulls 4,000 Pounds of Waste From Marsh Island

These photos show just how intense this shoreline effort in Fairhaven really is — from sorting mountains of debris to filling those massive “super sacks” with decades’ worth of trash that washed up into our harbor.

Gallery Credit: Gazelle

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