Join a Cleanup

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Roll Up Your Sleeves & Dive In

Looking for an easy way to get started on your volunteer or water protection journey? Our seasonal river cleanups are a great place to start! With our fall and spring, region-wide cleanups, you can choose from a huge list of locations making it easier than ever to join the movement.

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Volunteer for a Day

Volunteer for a Day –
It’s as Easy as 1-2-3

Step 1 – Review our cleanup locations on our interactive cleanup map and register for the location that makes the most sense for you. Make sure to sign your waiver!

Step 2 – Show up at your selected location on cleanup day and dress for the weather. This includes sturdy shoes and clothes that can get dirty and possibly wet! And don’t forget a reusable water bottle and some sunscreen for extra protection.

Step 3 – Check in with your site captain, get your rubber gloves and your trash bags and get started!

Bonus – Don’t forget to take lots of photos and tag us on your social media to show the incredible impact you are making! If you join our big Spring Cleanup event, you’ll also get a free t-shirt and you are invited to our after-cleanup party at a local hot spot!

Join a Cleanup More Ways to Volunteer

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Why Join a Cleanup?

Six Reasons to Take the Plunge
  • Our Rivers Need You
    Our volunteers pull thousands of pounds of plastics and trash out of our rivers each year. By volunteering for just a few hours, you can help limit the harm done to our local fish, wildlife, and plants.
  • It’s Easy
    There’s no long-term commitment required, it’s free, you can register online, and there are tons of locations making it easy to get to! Whether you’re looking to take advantage of your volunteer hours or you’re looking for something new to do, our cleanups make the perfect option!
  • Make New Friends
    If you’re excited to help clean up our rivers, you’re in great company! We can register anywhere from 10 to 200 volunteers based on the size and need of each site, which means you can register with your own group or go on your own and still have a great time connecting with people who share the same values and sense of adventure.
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Volunteers Meeting for Cleanup
  • Improve Your Community
    Let’s be honest, trash isn’t nice to look at. Whether you live along the waters of the Milwaukee River Basin, or you like to visit, participating in a cleanup helps ensure our waterfronts stay beautiful for everyone in our communities!
  • Support a New Generation of Riverkeepers
    Register with your little ones to start their passion for conservation and the environment early. Give children the gift of real, hands-on learning experiences while creating a safer, cleaner environment for all kids in our area.
  • Keep Our Waters Safe
    Remove harmful debris and plastics from our waterways to keep our riparian wildlife safe!

Explore Map & Register

Missed Your Opportunity This Season?

That’s Okay – Host Your Own Cleanup with MRK!

We understand that schedules get busy and it’s not always easy to get things to line up. That’s why we offer the option for anyone to host their own cleanup!

We’ll work with you to pick the best date and location, help guide you through how to host your own cleanup, provide resources materials to help you plan, and, when resources allow, we’ll send one of our team members to help during the day! We even supply all the materials!

This is a great option for large groups, businesses, and organizations looking to build camaraderie while making a real impact in real time.

Sign Up to Host More Ways to Volunteer

Host Your Own Cleanup
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Volunteers participating in river cleanup milwaukee

Love Clean Up Day &
Can’t Wait for the Next?

Adopt-a-River to Make a Long-Standing Commitment

Did you know that you can adopt a section of our waterways? By committing to clean up a section two or more times a year, you will steward your own section of the Milwaukee River Basin and join a community of adopters working to restore our waterways.

Who Can Adopt a River?
  • Individuals & Families
  • Companies
  • Organizations
  • Community Groups

Sign Up Today

Cleanup FAQs

Get More Information on Our Cleanups

We recommend bringing a reusable water bottle and sunscreen.  Dress for the weather, this includes sturdy shoes and clothes that can get dirty and possibly wet! We’ll provide gloves and trash bags, which should be returned to your site captain after the cleanup.

Your safety is your responsibility and should be your first concern. The most important thing to remember is to KNOW YOUR LIMITS, both mentally and physically. If you come across something that exceeds your physical abilities or seems strange to you, leave it alone and seek assistance from someone more familiar with it.

While your site captain will review safety with you, we recommend ensuring that everyone in your group is familiar with our safety procedures before the event.

  1. It is preferable to conduct your cleanups in a group, not alone. If one person is hurt, others can get help. Also, always maintain voice and eye contact with a member of your group.
  2. Watch your footing on steep river banks, they may be soft or unstable. Avoid stepping on loose stones and rocks when possible.
  3. If planning a cleanup where the threat of drowning exists (steep banks, waterways, etc.), wear a life jacket and follow all safety regulations (Minnesota Boater’s Guide) and boater safety materials can be sent upon request.
  4. Children under age 16 should work with an adult. Parents should instruct their children and guests under age 16. Each child must be under supervision of a specific adult.
  5. Never pick up needles or hypodermic syringes! Wear gloves when handling all other sharp objects. If you encounter needles or syringes, mark the area in some way and notify your group leader so they can be properly picked up and placed in a labeled container. Do not reach into places that are blocked from your view.
  6. To avoid injury, avoid overexertion and lift with your legs, not your back.
  7. Do not overfill or compact trash bags. Broken or jagged objects can pierce the bags and cause injury
  8. Be conscious of the weather. This includes working only during daylight hours, being aware of potentially slippery areas, and being aware of possible storms. If you are caught in a lightning storm, it is important to find shelter in low-lying areas away from natural lightning rods such as trees and other tall objects
  9. If you find a sealed drum, do not move it. Mark and report their location to your cleanup leader or local authority.
  10. Avoid dead animals.
  • Dress appropriately for the day: sturdy shoes (no sandals), long pants, hat, gloves, sun screen, rain gear, and insect repellent (if needed).
  • Bring a first aid kit (more than one may be necessary depending on the size of the group) to treat minor injuries immediately.
  • Bring a water bottle and drink plenty of water, especially on hot, humid days.
  • Familiarize yourself with and avoid poison ivy and stinging nettles.
  • Maintain good communication with the other people cleaning up. If an emergency develops, make sure someone is available to call for additional help (a cellular phone is usually a good option).
  • Following the cleanup, make sure to conduct a thorough tick search (if appropriate) and wash as appropriate.

Clean only rubbish above ground. You may not only strain your back, but digging may create a bank erosion problem or a hazardous hole.

Do not irritate or disturb other creatures living in the area, human or otherwise. Carefully leave the area if you are concerned, and report the location to your group leader or necessary authorities.

Respect homeless encampments in public spaces. Individuals experiencing homelessness have encampments at several of our Spring Cleanup sites. We do our best to protect their occupancies. These encampments often contain items of value to the individuals using them, and take a lot of effort to make. We want to be respectful of their items. We ask volunteers to leave everything as is, even if there is a question as to current occupancy.

We want our Cleanups to be as welcoming and accessible as possible for all river lovers. We are eager to accommodate and involve folks with differing abilities. A few things we currently offer to help accommodate are: trash grabbers, terrain information (upon request), and printed safety information and announcements at each site.

For folks unable to physically clean up to still participate in this year’s event, we welcome help with the following:

  • Help with registration & check-in
  • Supply distribution or collection
  • Tracking trash data

We also encourage those interested in participating to bring a buddy or partner up with another volunteer.  Our cleanups typically work well when folks work in pairs or groups so that one person can hold the trash bucket or bag, while others pick up trash.

The number of volunteers that attend cleanups and total trash weight are important values we collect annually to show the impact of our event on a larger scale. This information is contributed to other large-scale reports from groups like the Great Lakes Cleanup, The Stewardship Network, and the International Coastal Cleanup. Detailed data, like specific types of trash, are also important to track. This information is also shared with other cleanup networks, and also used locally to help solve our trash problem. For example, if we notice a spot has a high amount of cigarette butts, we can recommend that property owners install ashtrays.

If you would like to track your trash, download and report it with the Clean Swell app on your mobile device, or reach out to allie@milwaukeeriverkeeper.org to obtain a printable data card to bring along with you and share after the cleanup.

In addition to helping us highlight the importance of event funders on an annual basis, our Spring Cleanup t-shirts have become greatly appreciated (and often collected) by our volunteers from year to year. We recognize the impact that t-shirts have on the environment, and do our best to reduce this footprint by using local vendors and researching the most sustainable options possible.

While we try our best to make sure that all volunteers receive a t-shirt, it is impossible to accurately estimate the exact amount of volunteers and sizing needs for all of our sites. If you don’t get a t-shirt or the size you prefer, you can reach out to rivercleanup@milwaukeeriverkeeper.org after the event to arrange a time to pick one up from our offices by appointment.

We use both reusable and disposable gloves. Reusable gloves are washed after the cleanup, and used again. Disposable gloves are recycled. We would love to only use reusable gloves, but we often lose many gloves each year, which makes it very expensive. To help keep our costs down, and offer sustainable options to more volunteers from year to year, please bring your own gloves, or remember to return your gloves to your site captain after your cleanup is over.

Plastic trash bags are the most cost effective way to both distribute the necessary supplies and also pick up the highest volume of trash in one day. Plastic trash bags are also easily tied off, which ensures the trash stays where it belongs when it gets collected, and doesn’t find its way back into our river system.

Plastic bags are also stronger than compostable trash bags (we’ve tested them!), which is particularly important as we’re dealing with large amounts of heavy, wet trash. Compostable trash bags are also only truly compostable when used appropriately, and unfortunately, the trash/litter we remove during our cleanups will not break down as intended.

We are currently exploring and piloting other collection methods, such as 5-gallon buckets and seed bags for smaller cleanups. Once we’re able to scale these efforts, we will introduce new methods.

Most trash picked up at our cleanups is covered in dirt or river sediment, making it unrecyclable. While it is a service we would love to offer, it is not something we can currently responsibly manage. If you would like to recycle items found at your cleanup, you are welcome to take those items home and recycle them on your own. If you do recycle, please make sure to follow current recycling guidelines for your municipality to avoid contaminating the recycling waste stream.

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Milwaukee, WI 53204

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