86IT+Trash+or+Treat+Cleanup+at+Walnut+Creek+Wetland

=**Wake County Big Sweep: Cleanup at Walnut Creek Wetlands**= On October 28th, I went to the Walnut Creek Wetlands Center to participate in the Trash or Treat event. The purpose of this event was to pick up litter around the creek and the amount of trash surprised me. So many people have carelessly thrown away their trash and considered the creek as a garbage disposal, our job was to pick up all the litter and restore the creek's beauty again. The center provided us with equipment to help us for the event and we separated into 4 groups, my group was in charge of collecting all the litter in the creek. We had specific containers to put our findings in, a clear bag for recyclable items, a black bag for non-recyclable items and a bucket for glass. Along with the trash we collected in the creek such as various plastics, glass from bottles and much more, I found some unusual items such as tires, basketballs, a can inside a Gatorade bottle and even a flip phone.

This relates to APES because the garbage affects the environment in many ways. Animals can get harmed by this because they may think the trash is some kind of food and accidentally consume it, also the pollution can hurt humans as well since it has a high chance of affecting the water systems. Last but not least, littering plays a vital role in global warming and increases it. Even the tiniest action of not throwing your trash in the environment can help, sometimes all you need is a little patience to find a garbage disposal to make the world a better and healthier place.