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Jed Boal ReportingA major environmental clean-up effort reached a milestone today in the Salt Lake Valley. Volunteers from Westminster College helped pull a lot of garbage from the Jordan River, including a significant symbol of waste in the waterway.
Jordan Rover Clean-up
August 26th - 8am
Utah Dept. of Agric. Bldg.
350 N Redwood Rd.
It's not easy to snag a shopping cart pinned to the bottom of the Jordan River by pounds and pounds of garbage, but incoming freshman at Westminster College helped the Great Salt Lakekeeper drag the 300th cart in five years from the urban waterway.
Jeff Salt, Great Salt Lakekeeper: "The word is getting out. People are waking up and realizing that the Jordan River is a great place."
Jeff Salt says orphaned carts are the number one large item found in the river, usually dumped by youth as a prank after someone else wheeled it away from the store. A Westminster student went in after the milestone cart.
Alex Bishop, Westminster College Student: "We went by and I grabbed it and it fell into the water. And we needed it for the three hundred, and so I jumped in to grab it out."
At 150 to 400 dollars per cart to replace, the loss adds up for retailers.
Jeff Salt, Great Salt Lakekeeper: "Our 300 carts represent a loss to retail between 45-thousand dollars and 120-thousand dollars."
Smith's has invested more than 100-thousand dollars among three stores to keep the carts on the lot with a very innovative system. When somebody wheels across the lot, and tries to get away with the cart, at a certain point, an electronic barrier locks up the wheels.
Marsha Gilford, Smith's Food and Drug: "We encourage other retailers to find devices and means to retrieve carts, so there's less input into the Jordan River."
Students also pulled out a baby buggy, an old TV, and plenty of beer and soda cans and bottles. The Great Salt Lakekeeper has an ongoing program to remove the abandoned carts and invite the community to help beautify the river.
