When he’s not working, John Breland can be found traversing the Pearl River, picking up other people’s trash.
The professional cabinet maker goes out on the river about twice a week to collect garbage.
For Breland, cleaning up the Pearl has become a passion, and something that many people say has made the river a better place.
“When I’ve got down days and spare change for fuel I head out. I can pick up 10 to 15 bags in one trip. Then, I have to stop because I (don’t) have room to maneuver in the boat,” he said.
Breland has been traveling the river for the last 30 years, but got interested in cleaning it up last fall, when he participated in a “Clean Sweep” event sponsored by the nonprofit environmental group Pearl Riverkeeper.
“I’ve seen tons and tons of litter down there. It was like a breath of fresh air to find an outlet (where I could) help out and do something about it.”
During the fall and winter months, Breland “goes out quite often.
“When the fish are biting I still go out, but I don’t collect quite as much,” he said. “I will catch my fish and pick up any litter I see coming or going.”
The Ridgeland resident shoves off at the Ross Barnett Reservoir spillway and works his way south. He travels anywhere from two to six miles each time, and usually is in a 14-foot Jon boat.
Breland collects everything from tires to plastic bags and bottles and bait packages, “floatable urban garbage” that makes its way into drainage ditches and creeks and then into the river.
“You wouldn’t believe it. I’ve picked up bicycle helmets, flip flops – anything that floats,” he said. “There’s way too many tires down there.”
He documents his trips on social media, including the Mississippi Litter Spotlight Facebook page.
On June 6, he and his son cleaned up one of Breland’s regular fishing spots.
Sources of the litter range from fishermen who leave empty bait packages at the spillway to shopping centers, where loose bags, cups and other debris makes it into storm drains.
Storm drains empty into creeks, which, in turn, flow into the river.
Other sources include washouts of former municipal dump sites and from campers and teens who visit the sandbars.
“The classification of the garbage we pick up is floatable urban garbage,” said Andrew Whitehurst, with the Gulf Restoration Network. Whitehurst also participated in the clean sweep and is a board member of Pearl Riverkeeper.
“All of this stuff was in hands and humans failed to do the right thing with it,” he said.
Breland said litter highlights a global problem.
“We had one of the largest dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico last year. They found fish in the gulf with plastic caps and Bic lighters in their bellies,” he said. “Recently, they discovered a garbage patch in the Pacific (Ocean) that’s about the size of Texas.”
According to a June 2018 article in National Geographic, between five and 14 million tons of plastics flow into the oceans from coastal areas each year. Those materials are broken down by the elements and are eaten by larger fish. Those fish, in turn, are then caught for human consumption.
Reservoir Patrol Chief Perry Waggener said part of the problem stems from the fact that litter laws are hard to enforce.
“As far as fishermen on the (spillway) go, when they open a package and put the paper on the ground, they will always have the defense that they were going to pick it up before they leave,” he said. “It makes enforcement extremely difficult.
“When you litter outside of a vehicle, it’s immediate. (Officers can make an immediate citation, unless the driver slows down and goes back to get what was thrown out,” he said. “If you’re in a particular place for a period of time, you have the option of picking it up before you leave.”
Waggener said he’s seen marked improvements along the river thanks to the efforts of Breland and others.
Abby Braman, executive director of Pearl Riverkeeper, also noted Breland’s passion for the work. “He feels toward the river like he would feel toward a child,” she said. “He’s one example of (many) people who feel fondly toward the Pearl.”
Riverkeeper is a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the Pearl River and maintaining the river’s water quality.
The group organized a river cleanup event last September.
Volunteers picked up litter along the 490-mile stretch of the river from the Pearl’s headwaters near Philadelphia to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
For his part, Breland paddled a homemade boat from the spillway dam to Mayes Lake, picking up trash along the way.
“The bottom of the boat, the floatation area, (was) made of plastic water bottles,” Braman said. “One of the main problems on the river is plastic pollution. Cleaning it up and making a boat (out of what he collected) is a good statement and a good thing for the community to see.”
