If you drove past The Triangle between the hours of 9AM and 12 PM on Saturday you probably saw the trash piling up. Perhaps you saw adults and kids walking around the neighborhood with big, orange trash bags in tow. That activity was part of Clean the Bay Day and those were volunteers from the King’s Grant Zone.

Clean the Bay Day is an annual event that dates back to 2008 in King’s Grant and 1988 in Virginia Beach. Clean the Bay Day occurs every first Saturday in June. The purpose of the event is to remove debris from the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed and to raise awareness about pollutants found in the water. Prior to its affiliation with Clean the Bay Day, The King’s Grant Zone was established as a King’s Grant community cleanup to remove debris from our storm water system and adjacent parts of the the Lynnhaven River. Volunteers come from throughout the community of King’s Grant. Many participants come from neighborhood and nearby schools; Kingston, Malibu, Kemp’s Landing, King’s Grant, Lynnhaven and First Colonial. Others come from neighborhood churches and businesses that operate in King’s Grant.

In 2011, 45 King’s Grant Zone volunteers collected roughly 1,090 pounds of trash from approximately 3.5 miles of land. Forty-four bags were filled along with hundreds of pounds of bulk items. The most commonly found items were plastic drink bottles and aluminum cans. Other items included a lawnmower, a billboard, empty paint cans, lumber, PVC pipe, car tires and a car battery. One car battery, alone, contains 18  pounds of lead and 5 pounds of sulfuric acid.

If you would like more information about Clean the Bay Day in King’s Grant contact the Zone Captain, this writer, Kevin Curry: kmcurry@gmail.com