The 24th annual Ohio River Sweep brought out 76 volunteers locally to clean the riverbanks in Lawrence County.

“I am pleased with what we can accomplish here,” said Dan Palmer, coordinator of the Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste Management District.

Volunteers cleaned at five boat ramps in the county — Ironton, South Point, Coal Grove, Symmes Creek and the Superior Marine site in South Point.

A total of 165 bags of trash were collected.

“Due to the high waters in the Chesapeake area, they weren’t able to go out real far and they did what they could,” Palmer said. “We were able to cover the Ironton boat ramp in a pretty good short time.”

Volunteers included the Moose Lodge Teen Club, the Lawrence County Juvenile Center, the Lawrence County Jail, and the community service workers from the Lawrence County Municipal Court.

“I see improvements in the last two years,” Palmer said. “Years ago there used to be an enormous amount of litter. We are seeing improvement. There used to be a lot of trash.”

Sponsors for the event were Coca Cola of Portsmouth, G&J Pepsi of Franklin Furnace, South Point Seven-up, Sam’s Club-Walmart, Rumpke and Food Fair in South Point.