During our Cleanup Events, we find all sorts of discarded items near the waterways, like heavy metals, appliances, car parts, and nails
Most of these are too contaminated for Brevard County recycling, but the Waterway Warriors partner with a local metal recycling shop. We bring metals to the shop when we can, and if they're too heavy, the shop comes to pick them up. Metal in the water is toxic to aquatic plants and marine life and can be dangerous for people.
Visitors often burn pallets along the waterways, which contain over 75 nails each. During floods, thousands of rusty nails end up in the water. Every quarter, Waterway Warriors volunteers perform "metal sweeping" in these areas, a task that requires significant physical strength. So far, we've removed and recycled over 22,000 nails (196 lbs) through the Metal Recycling Program.
