Joe Wright, SUP.Garbage.Man on Instagram
The Lincoln and Washington Memorials and the Kennedy Center are not the only thing casting shadows onto the water.
As I get closer to Roosevelt Island, large amounts of trash and other man-made debris litter every inch of the shoreline. I am immediately brought back to a heavy reality and the reason I am out on the water in the first place.
Ahead of me, Joe Wright paddles through the water. A repurposed shopping basket, a milk crate, a larger basket made from old PVC pipe and a mesh laundry bag take up the majority of his paddle board. On the side of this larger basket, he has attached a sign that reads @SUP.Garbage.Man, which are his Facebook and Instagram handles.
The words describe exactly what he does. Wright, a resident of the Fort Hunt area, collects trash from the Potomac River approximately four to five times a week while he is out on his stand-up paddle board.
Wright would be the first person to tell you he is no activist and has no agenda. He describes himself as “just a dude on a SUP doing my part.” Originally from Florida, he has been a paddle boarder and surfer for a long time, but collecting trash regularly, posting his finds on social media and starting a non-profit are more recent developments.
It all began in May 2019 when he fished a floating to-go container out of the water on one of his paddle boarding trips. This container led him to a much larger discovery: “Near Reagan and the marina that’s there, there is just a huge surface of trash and bags and all kinds of stuff because the current brought it there. And so I was like, 'Well this is horrible,' so I started grabbing stuff. And I was like, 'You know, I’m going to go out again tomorrow and I’m going to bring a milk crate,'” Wright said.
The next day he filled that milk crate — and the day after, he filled two milk crates. He decided to post his finds on social media to raise awareness. He eventually purchased a GoPro camera to better document his experience. His social media following picked up, and now he has almost 2,400 followers on Instagram.
“I don’t go and shame anybody on Instagram or anything like that," he said. "It just doesn’t belong in the water, so I get it out."
Photo by Susannah Moore
Wright has found his fair share of interesting items from the river including tires, small propane tanks, rain barrels, car seats, parts of outdoor furniture, a treasure chest full of coins. He has also found two plastic skulls (presumably from Halloween decorations) and a vial of blood (yes, real blood). The day we went out he found part of a picnic table. These items are in addition to the countless everyday items like plastic bottles and bags he finds on every trip on the water.
Wright said he has noticed an increase in masks, gloves and take-out containers since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wright has had to get creative about fitting some of these items on to his board but he says he enjoys the challenge. Surprisingly, he has only ever taken one tumble off of his board since he started.
As of Nov. 30, 2020, Wright has collected 2,035 cubic feet of trash. That is equivalent to almost two 20-foot shipping containers. That means Wright has had to figure out how to dispose of the trash. Sometimes he will take larger items to a dumpster and the rest he strategically fits into his home trash container. Wright has noticed that his trash collecting has impacted the way he and his wife think about trash. They find themselves buying less stuff and they no longer use plastic bags.
Wright doesn’t collect the trash for the praise, which he often receives from many people including fellow paddle boarders or boaters when he is out on the water. Even so, he is encouraged to see how his action has inspired other people around the country. “It’s kind cool to see [that] my going out and taking pictures of trash and picking up trash is inspiring other people to do it.”
Wright does all of this on top of holding down a full time job.
He often gets asked if he plans to lead groups of people to collect trash. His answer is no, because he doesn’t want to take away from the real message of his work — that one person can make a difference. For him it happens to be through paddle boarding. For someone else it could be running or cycling or writing.
“I don’t want it to be, 'Everyone should change their life,' I just want it to be like, 'Anyone can do something to help the overall problem just within your normal skill set, whatever you like to do, and just use it for that.' Don’t change whatever you’re doing, just use whatever you’re doing to affect the change.”
Learn more about the SUP Garbage Man at supgarbageman.org and be sure to follow him on social media @SUP.Garbage.Man on Instagram and on Facebook.
