Kayaking club fills three canoes with rubbish during mile-long river litter pick
Members of a kayaking club were left shocked at the amount of rubbish they collected during a river litter pick.
Wombourne Kayak Club committed to doing a clean of one mile of the River Severn from Ironbridge to Jackfield Rapids, one of the club's frequently visited areas, as part of the Surfers Against Sewage Million Mile Clean.
Zoey Rowe of the club said: "We all paddle that stretch quite a lot and we didn't expect that much.
"We were thinking we would have a few cans, bottles, that kind of thing. We filled three open canoes full of rubbish. We pulled about 10 traffic cones out of the water, a mattress, a wicker chair.
"We couldn't believe how much there was."
The club had 12 kayakers working for a little over two hours on just one mile of river, and managed to retrieve a shocking amount of rubbish.
Zoey added: "We paddle there all the time, we were shocked by how much rubbish there was.
"It was good we could do it, but it makes you wonder how much more is out there."
The club had support from Telford and Wrekin Council, which provided litter pickers, gloves and other equipment to help the volunteers, as well as arranging for the proper disposal of all the litter the club pulled out of the water.
