Cleanup of Little Hunting Creek Yields 17 Shopping Carts

This past weekend, Del. Scott Surovell held his sixth cleanup in the past two years of Little Hunting Creek in the Hybla Valley section of Fairfax County. The cleanup, in coordination with the Friends of Little Hunting Creek and the Alice Ferguson’s Foundations Annual Potomac Watershed Cleanup, was led by Delegate Surovell at three different sites:

- Janna Lee Avenue Bridge

- Mt. Vernon Shopping Plaza

- Audubon Estates

The Friends of Little Hunting Creek President, Betsy Martin, coordinated 16 additional sites around Little Hunting Creek in the Gum Springs, Riversides Estates, Stratford Landing, Wessynton and First River Farms neighborhoods that helped to remove over 300 bags of trash.

At Del. Surovell’s sites, 95 volunteers helped remove the trash from the creek over an eight-hour period. These included students from Waynewood Elementary School, Hybla Valley Elementary School, Carl Sandburg Middle School and West Potomac High School. 

The weekend cleanup netted over 2,200 pounds of trash including:

- 17 shopping carts
- 95 bags of trash
- 16 tires
- 3 Bags
- 3 Carpets
- 8 Sports Balls
- 4x8 Aluminum Sign

- Mannequin leg, toy gun and toy car
- Mini van seat
- Beer cans and liquor bottles
- Lawn Mower
- Dirty diapers
- Lawn chair

The shopping carts included two Costco, three Wal Mart, one Goodwill, three Shoppers, one from Home Deport, two from CVS, one from Eagle, one from Bed, Bath and Beyond and three that were unrecognizable. 

There were also other large obstructions including furniture deeply embedded in the creek that caused major buildups and formed dams.

Yesterday’s cleanup topped off six cleanups in the past 24 months that removed a total of 177 shopping carts from the same half-mile stretch of Little Hunting Creek since April 2012. 

Many of the shopping carts were deeply embedded in the creek and pinned under trees or entangled in roots. The removal of these carts could not have been accomplished without the help of Robert O’Hanlon and Ed Raduazo of Robert O’Hanlon’s tree service.