Don't litter--it ends up in your River!

Reuse, reduce, and recycle!

When a piece of trash ends up on the land, rain and wind carry it into storm drains and waterways, where it winds up in your waterways--and your drinking water.

Learn about how litter ends up in your River and how you can do your part to keep it out in this short video series that Cahaba River Society produced with DoReMe Media in conjunction with the Big Cahaba Cleanup.

The Cahaba River is one of the most biodiverse rivers in North America. It has more fish species than any other river of its size or larger in North America.

It is also a primary drinking water source for the Greater Birmingham area.

The Cahaba is also surrounded by some of the most heavily developed and highly populated areas of our state, making it highly vulnerable to trash pollution.

Do your part to keep the Cahaba clean!

Here are 6 ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

1. Avoid the use of disposable goods such as lighters, paper cups and plastics.Throwing these objects contribute to greater problems and they have to be replaced over and over again. Once these goods are disposed off in the landfills, there is the probability that they may form breeding sites for diseases. Besides, once these materials are used there is need to replace them each time which is very expensive and costly.
2. Purchase products made from recycled materials. A product that has the recycled symbol means that either it has been made from recycled material or it can be recycled. This is common in plastics that have this recycling symbol usually with a numbered code which shows the type of plastic resin that this container really is made of. Recycled timber can be used for functions such as making furniture.
3. Use cloth bags when buying groceries or reuse grocery bags. Only take a bag from the grocery store if you need it.
4. Use resealable containers instead of plastic wraps. When the plastic bags are used once there is need to acquire new ones over and over again however resalable containers can be used only once and reused. This cuts on costs a lot.
5. Donate to charity or sell old clothes, furniture, toys or appliances. Most especially, the furniture can be sold in garage ads and sales. There are times when one needs to change their furniture. Instead of throwing away this furniture which can be useful to another person, it can instead be sold to those willing to buy or donated to various institutions or individuals who require them most.
6. Instead of using paper cups or bottled water, use coffee mugs or personal water bottle. The coffee mugs and personal water bottles are portable and can be reused every time. However the plastic cups/bottled water have to be thrown away after each use thus increasing the amount of waste to be disposed off.