YORKVILLE — Boy Scouts from the Ohio Valley are ready to clean the banks of the Ohio River to improve its condition and to ensure accumulated trash doesn’t wash away into the ocean.

Boy Scout Troop 106 from Bridgeport will be performing the task during the Ohio River sweep season from 8-11 a.m. June 14 at Pike Island Dam at Yorkville.

Anyone interested in helping to clean the river can reach out to the JB Green Team if they have a specific area or stream that’s a tributary of the Ohio River in mind as a work site.

The Scouts will be going along the riverside and along different areas of Pike Island Locks and Dam picking up whatever trash they can find. Debris might include old tires, old fishing gear, old coolers, fast food bags, leftovers and cigarette butts.

JB Green Team Education Coordinator Dorene Unterzuber said the Scouts are trying to clean and beautify the area by ensuring there is no litter there. Unterzuber added it’s important to do this cleanup because during the spring, the Ohio Valley tends to get a lot of rain and the river can flood. High water can pick up all of the trash along the riverside and carry it downstream to the ocean. She said volunteers are trying to stop that litter from being swept away and affecting waterways.

JB Green Team will take away the trash to properly dispose of it once the Boy Scouts collect it.

The Ohio River Sweep is an annual volunteer cleanup that extends the entire length of the Ohio River, with volunteers from the six states that border the river removing litter and trash from multiple locations and its tributaries, according to the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission.

“The volunteers for the Ohio River Sweep have made tremendous progress cleaning the Ohio River,” the commission said. “Yet, litter continues to be a global problem. Volunteers make a positive impact in the entire Ohio River Basin by participating in the Ohio River Sweep. The sweep season starts in March and runs through October with different cleanup events throughout the season. Although the Ohio River Sweep used to be a one-day event, the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission wants to support cleanup events to remove the greatest amount of litter possible now that the event is no longer one day.

“While our award-winning program continues to experience success, we need your support in expanding our efforts and reach throughout the Ohio River watershed!”

Sponsors’ contributions provide volunteer supplies and promotional materials that help make this event successful.

People can also donate to ORSANCO, which will get them recognition on Ohio River Sweep’s sponsor page and an electronic newsletter, among other shoutouts with $5,000 or $10,000 or more donations.

People can look at the commission’s website to find a map of sweeps that are happening all across the Ohio River.

For last year’s sweep season, 125 sweeps were hosted in six states with 4,267 people who attended an event. They collected a total of 180,600 pounds of litter and 996 tires.