Ice Mountain® Team Cleans Up Muskegon River During Annual Trash Bash Event

Members of the Ice Mountain® Natural Spring Water team ventured on the Muskegon River by canoe, in teams of two, for the annual Muskegon River Trash Bash clean-up event held at the end of August.

The event relies on volunteers to support the river and waterways by collecting trash and debris within the watershed.

On a gloriously sunny day in August, the Mecosta, Michigan team of 13 tidied a five-mile stretch of the Muskegon between Rogers Heights and the Davis Bridge, which is located just down the road from the factory located in Stanwood, Michigan.

“Year after year, our team at Mecosta looks forward to being part of Trash Bash,” says Mitch Plosz, plant manager for the Ice Mountain® Brand. “It’s good teamwork building, gets us out on one of Michigan’s most spectacular rivers, and we take great satisfaction in a job well done as we help keep our waterways and communities clean.”

The Trash Bash, for the month of August, is a volunteer cleanup event that began twelve years ago. For the past five years, the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly (MWRA) has led the Trash Bash to galvanize volunteers – families, friends, companies, and nonprofit organizations in adopting stretches of the river and surrounding acres of land. The goal is to promote the river’s value, aesthetics, and health by removing trash, junk, debris, and refuse from the river, riverbanks, tributaries, and watershed lands. Teams pick their day and location, which can include tributaries or land located within the watershed.

Along with sponsoring a cleanup team, Ice Mountain® has sponsored the Trash Bash since its inception in 2012. This year, Ice Mountain® contributed $5,000 to the campaign.

A member of the MWRA board of directors, a big supporter of Trash Bash, and BlueTriton Brands’ natural resource manager in Michigan for more than 14 years, Arlene Anderson-Vincent takes immense pride in how Trash Bash has grown. She and a handful of colleagues who got together years back for a group cleanup of a 10-mile stretch of the river near Evart had a promising idea that evolved into Trash Bash.

“Inspiring people to care for their environment and seeing the pride they take in realizing the impact they can make is super rewarding to me,” she said. “We never could have imagined Trash Bash as it is today, but it’s a prime example of what can happen when an organization like MWRA puts their brand and organizational muscle behind its work. They bring people together to be a force for good – the Muskegon River in this case.”

This year, volunteers collected less trash than in previous years as they believe people enjoying the river are being cognizant about keeping our environment clean and beautiful. Wisner Canoes in Newaygo, Michigan donated canoes for Ice Mountain® employees to use during this year’s clean up event along with previous years.

For more than 2,700 square miles, the Muskegon River watershed touches nine counties in Michigan’s lower peninsula before connecting to Lake Michigan in Muskegon. The “Mighty Muskegon” is a central feature in communities along the way, supporting industry and electric power generation, drinking water supplies, recreation, and abundant wildlife.

More than 720 volunteers with 43 teams who walked the banks, canoed, kayaked, or tubed the river to remove debris participated in Trash Bash 2024.

The Ice Mountain® team is already looking forward to next year’s event!