Onion Bag Project aims to keep Ohio rivers clean
The Onion Bag Litter Prevention Program places boxes containing onion bags at access points to the Tuscarawas and other rivers in Ohio. Canoers and kayakers can use the mesh bags for their trash, pick up other litter from the river and return the bag to its box for reuse when finished.
A project initiated two years ago by a veterans group is gaining momentum all along the Tuscarawas River. The Onion Bag Litter Prevention Project was started by Paddle for Heroes as a way to help veterans enjoy the outdoors and keep the Kokosing River in Knox County litter-free.
The idea was simple: place onion bags in boxes along waterways and encourage kayakers and canoers to put their litter in them and collect litter along the way. As simple ideas often do, it took on a life of its own. In fact, the project grew this year to a size that Paddle for Heroes was not fully equipped to continue.
That’s when Curtis Casto decided to take over the expanding project by establishing it as a 501(c)(3) and inviting all river travelers to participate. “Our goal is to have onion bags available at every boating access point on every public waterway in the state,” he said.
The project places onion bags in outdoor boxes along Ohio’s rivers, with local people signing on to maintain them. In the Bolivar-Zoar area, Joe Rinehart and Nick Williams are those people.
“With the Tuscarawas River being designated a Water Trail by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, we really want to keep it clean,” said Rinehart, who had been giving trail and river users plastic bags to use for trash. “The brilliance of the onion bag is that they’re perfect for the water. If you flip over in a kayak or canoe, plastic bags rip open, and there goes all your trash into the river.”
Rinehart keeps a stash of onion bags on his property, which also is home to the Towpath Trail Peace Park, a primitive campground near the McDonnell Trailhead.
Casto said the idea for the project came from a similar program along the Buffalo River in Arkansas, which runs through a national park. “The national parks don’t allow plastic bags or Styrofoam to be taken on the rivers. So they came up with the idea of using the onion bags.”
Scott Freese of Mount Pleasant is in charge of placing onion bag stations all along the Tuscarawas River. “We’ve got just a couple of locations left to secure and we’ll have every public access point covered from Barberton all the way to Coshocton,” Freese said.
NTR Canoe Livery in Bolivar is one of the latest locations to participate in the project. Manager Michelle Kuhaneck said they are happy to be part of the project.
“We suggest our customers take an onion bag from the box along with them and bring back any trash they have or any trash they might find on the river. They just leave it on our dock, and we get rid of the trash and recycle what we can. We wash the bags, hang them up to dry, and then fold them and put them back in the box,” Kuhaneck said.
Casto said he gets a positive reaction from everyone he talks to about the project. He builds all the boxes that get placed along the rivers. So far he has placed onion bag boxes along the Kokosing, Muskingum and Mohican rivers.
“I’m working on getting them on the Little Miami and Great Miami now,” he said. “We’ll give each location 20-50 bags to start, but then the locals go out and seek donors from their communities.”
How to help
While the group searches for grant funding, Casto has set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for the materials he needs to build the boxes. Search onion bag litter prevention project. Donations also can be sent to the Onion Bag Litter Control Project, 42 Columbus Road, Mount Vernon, OH 43050.
Groups, corporations and other organizations also can help by agreeing to maintain onion bag boxes along the river. Visit www.theonionbaglitterpreventionproject.org, find them on Facebook or call Casto at 740-504-2781.