Reworld and Operation SPLASH join forces to combat pollution in Freeport’s Nautical Mile

In a bold initiative to enhance the environment, Reworld joined forces with Operation SPLASH on July 17 to combat pollution in the waterfront surrounding Freeport’s Nautical Mile.

The Freeport-based Operation SPLASH, which stands for Stop Polluting Littering And Save Harbors, is a non-profit organization dedicated to cleaning local waterways, removing more than three million pounds of trash since the group was created in 1990. The group’s partnership with the company Reworld over the past decade has facilitated regular marsh cleanups during the summer season.

The initiative is part of Reworld’s broader commitment to investing in Long Island communities by upgrading local habitats.

“Our mission is to reimagine the waste we all create — it’s about building a sustainable future for everyone,” Maureen Early, lead community relations specialist at Reworld, said.

Reworld, which was previously known as Covanta, now offers a broader range of waste solutions, according to Early.

“We rebranded recently after evolving into more than just energy from waste, which is how everyone knew us as Covanta,” she said, about the company’s name-change announced earlier this year in April. “We are now a broader waste solutions company with many more offerings outside of energy from waste, like wastewater treatment, renewable fuel sources, (and more).”

Although Reworld doesn’t have a facility in Freeport, the company’s Hempstead facility plays a crucial role in the area.

“We process over a million tons of municipal solid waste, which is all of the garbage after you’ve done your town’s recycling program,” Early said. “It comes to us, and we process it here in one of our three very large boilers, and we turn it into usable energy supplying homes across Long Island.”

The collaboration with Operation SPLASH underscores the importance of community engagement and sustainability.

SPLASH has been working tirelessly for the past 34 years “picking up other people’s garbage in bays, beaches and salt marshes,” Rob Weltner, the group’s president, said.

Reworld’s collaboration with Operation SPLASH began a decade ago, supporting SPLASH’s volunteer efforts financially, with the waste solutions company donating $6000 annually to the organization, and through active participation.

“We donate annually to them ... We’ve been supporting a boat,” Early said. “So we have our own Reworld-sponsored boat. And, you know, look, it helps them pay the gas. They need it. They’re doing a heavy job. They do get some grants, which have been wonderful, but they need all the help that we can get.”

The July 17 cleanup, which began at 9:30 a.m., involved Reworld employees, including young interns, joining Operation SPLASH for an educational and hands-on experience.

“We went around to some of the islands in Freeport,” Weltner said, “and I kind of was showing them how the whole system works ... We took them out and showed them around. What we showed them in the class — we showed them, you know, hands-on, this is what we’re talking about.”

The participants were involved in cleaning both the land and water areas, picking up trash such as bottle caps, microplastics and other debris.

“When it rains, water has to get carried away from residential areas otherwise,” Weltner explained. “So there’s huge underground pipes that carry the rainwater away at the snowmelt, everything that’s in the street, whether it’s cigarette butts, water bottles, any kind of garbage, plastic, any of that stuff fertilizes, pesticides, it all goes down that same drain with the water, and all those drains lead to the bays or Long Island Sound.”

The collaboration between Reworld and Operation SPLASH not only focuses on cleanup but also on education and raising awareness.

“We’re committed to building a smarter, more sustainable world, and we recognize the vital role that community education has in achieving that mission,” Early said.

“It’s such an eye-opening experience,” she added. “It really affirms the need for a change in legislation, more policing of those who are causing the challenges the pollutants are causing, and just a variety of things like that.”

Weltner, reflecting on his long-term involvement and the impact of SPLASH, shared a poignant story about his motivation. “I was home getting ready to go to my father’s funeral, and I was thinking about the best times I ever had with my father,” he said. “We’re out on the bay, clamming, crabbing, fishing, and it was a paradise ... And I cannot do the same thing with my boys that my dad did with me ... And what happened in 35 years, 40 years of my life that it went from paradise to hell.”