For the last decade, groups of volunteers have been coming together to clean up one of Michigan’s longest river systems.

For the whole month of August, the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly, or MRWA, is hosting a clean-up event for teams to better the river’s ecosystem.

“It originally started between the city of Evart, myself and a group of volunteers almost 10 years ago,” Coordinator Sarah Himes said. “It was a group of maybe 20 to 30 people for one day, just cleaning up a small section of the river to now asking volunteers to clean up 290 miles of this river and tributaries. It's just great to see how much it has grown over the years.”

Last year’s event included over 280 participants and almost 2,000 pounds of garbage removed from various parts of the Muskegon River.

This year, registered teams can sign up and pick up trash throughout the entire month of August. The main kickoff event, “Jerry’s Annual Muskegon River Clean Up” event, takes place on August 5 at 9 A.M. at the Bridgeton Boat Launch. Team registration and location claims can be made up until July 31.

“Some people use it as a family get together,” Himes said. “They grab their two friends, their kayaks and they just have fun for however long they want. Not only that, but they have a chance to win prizes.”

Some of these prizes include a video contest, in which every team has the chance to submit a video of their clean-up experience to win 200 dollars. There are also some smaller prizes up for grabs including kayaks.

“It's not based on how much garbage you pick up,” Himes said. “It's the fact that you're going out there and doing something that's great for the environment. So, if you end up just picking up a couple of bags of garbage, that's super helpful. If you decide that you want to fill an entire garbage container full of garbage, that is awesome.”

For more information on the event, visit mrwa.org/trashbash.