3.5 tons of garbage pulled from 60-foot sinkhole cave in Missouri, officials say

Tons of trash were pulled from a Missouri sinkhole cave in one day — 3.5 tons, to be precise.

The 60-foot pit in Sainte Genevieve County is part of an “extensive karst system,” or area where dissolving bedrock has created sinking streams, sinkholes, springs and caves, according to a news release from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC).

“Dumping trash and other refuse in sinkholes and caves will ultimately end up in our waterways,” MDC Fisheries Management Biologist Jason Crites said in the news release. “I encourage people to refrain from dumping, especially in these locations.”

To clean up the mess, 50 employees with MDC, and Eagle Scouts, Meramec Valley Grotto cavers and community members gathered to remove the 3.5 tons of garbage in one day.

Included in the recent trash pickup were 250 discarded tires, officials say.

“There was a large amount of trash in the walk-in entrance and throughout the cave,” said Alex Litsch with Missouri Stream Team. “Vertically trained cavers worked around the top of the 60-foot pit to hoist trash out of the cave, and volunteers were on the surface and in the cave moving trash to a dumpster.”

In total, cleanup crews at this location have “removed nearly 500 tires and two 10-foot-by-5-foot-by-3-foot trailers filled with roughly 2 tons of additional litter,” according to the news release.

Missouri Stream Team — a group of people concerned about Missouri streams — partners with MDC to conserve state rivers.

Ste. Genevieve County is on the eastern border of Missouri, about 60 miles south of St. Louis.

This story was originally published December 17, 2021 at 4:24 PM with the headline "3.5 tons of garbage pulled from 60-foot sinkhole cave in Missouri, officials say."