Mike Graham shouted out each discovery.

"We found everything! Look, a beer bottle and some wrappers," the eight-year-old yelled.

Then he was off again, garbage bag in hand, heading down the Thames riverbank at St. Julien Park.

Trying to keep up were his sisters, Danielle and Rebecca, and parents Pete and Jennifer.

"We're just trying to do our little bit," Pete said.

A short walk down the Thames River at Vauxhall Park, three generations of females were doing the same.

"Look at this. Some child could really cut themselves on this," said Shirley Heffernan, carefully holding a sharp edge of a one-metre-by-one-metre piece of plexi-glass.

"I'm sorry I didn't do this before. I didn't know how much garbage there was."

Heffernan was there with her daughter and grand-daughters, including Jasmine Warren, a Grade 9 student at Clarke Road secondary school, who got the whole family out because she wanted to build up her high school volunteer hours.

"I just want to help the environment," she said.

All through the Thames River watershed yesterday, thousands of volunteers picked up garbage, tended the land and planted trees in the annual river cleanup and Earth Day celebrations.

The collection of junk was astonishing in its scale and scope.

By 10:30 a.m., about 75 workers and families from Kellogg Canada had filled a city dumpster at St. Julien Park with garbage bags full of trash.

Around the dumpster were tires, bikes, shopping carts and mysterious bits of metal.

Organizer Thor Sorensen couldn't believe someone would throw broken glass into a child's play area of the park.

"It's despicable," he said.

But he was heartened by the turnout of volunteers, bigger than last year, and the good weather.

"It's been a really good morning."

While many groups cleaned up yesterday, along the north branch of the Thames by Stoney Creek, dozens of adults and children planted trees and shrubs along the creek bank.

"All of them are trees and shrubs that are native to the area," said Carol Agocs, a member of Friends of Stoney Creek.

Crews with the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority handed out about 200 maple, sycamore, ash and burl oak trees and dogwood, chokeberry and other shrubs to the Friends volunteers.

"We want to attract more wildlife," said Brenda Gallagher, a specialist with the authority.

The trees and shrubs will also filter the groundwater that flows into the creek and shade the creek water to provide a healthier habitat for fish.

Volunteers were also erecting bluebird houses along the creek yesterday.

"There's one over there being shared by a sparrow and chickadee," Gallagher said. "It's not going too well. Every time one tries to bring in a twig, the other chases it away."

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EARTH DAY EVENTS

Today

Sunoco Earth Day Event: 11 a.m.- 3 pm. Suncor Energy Foundation invites everyone to attend and take part in tree planting, bird-box building and face-painting, among other activities at Westminster Ponds.

Tomorrow

Richmond Row Merchants Association will launch a reusable bag program at noon at 575 Richmond St., the site of Gift of Art and Tribal Mountain Trade.

Tuesday, Earth Day

Plastic Bag-Free Day: Members of city council and Waste Free World will hand out reusable bags inside Covent Garden Market in an effort to reduce the number of plastic bags used in the city.