Rich Emmel bent over to retrieve a crumpled newspaper from the brush along the shore of the Charles River at Magazine Beach in Cambridgeport.   A passing Canada goose eyed him as he stashed the soggy page in his collection bag.

“I wonder if there’s some way we could organize the geese to help with the cleanup,” Emmel said. “Maybe they could learn to pick things up and put them in piles.”

It was 9:30 a.m. on Earth Day -- Saturday, April 16. A couple of dozen volunteers were already on the job, sprucing up the grounds at Magazine Beach in honor of the 12th annual Charles River Earth Day Cleanup. Emmel surveyed the narrow band of trash along the water's edge -- bottlecaps, scraps of styrofoam, broken plastic forks.

“It’s impossible to get it all,” Emmel said. “I’m taking the bigger pieces, plus things like broken glass, that people might cut their feet on.”

The Earth Day project involved sites along the shore from Hopkinton to Boston. It was coordinated by several groups interested in environmental and river issues, including the Charles River Watershed Association, the office of Senator Steven Tolman (2nd Suffolk and Middlesex District), the Charles River Conservancy, The Esplanade Association, the City of Newton, the Trustees of Reservations, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Kate Sullivan of the Riverside Boat Club organized the Magazine Beach event. Volunteers included members of the club and area residents who had turned out in support of efforts by the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association (CNA) to revitalize the park and restore its historic Powder House, a stone structure built in 1818 for storing explosives and later converted to a bathhouse.

Cathie Zusy of CNA said more volunteers were expected later on, including a rowing team of women from Simmons College who practice at Riverside. By afternoon, according to an update she posted on the CNA website (cportneighbors@yahoogroups.com ), about 60 people had helped with the cleanup, filled 50 bags of trash, and shared refreshments donated by Trader Joe’s and Starbucks across the street on Memorial Drive.