Betty from Louisburg, NC

The last time I picked up litter, I think, was when I wrote to you in January.  In NC our normal average temperature during the winter months is 50 degrees.  This winter, we have had rain, snow, wind and temperatures mostly in the 30’s.  I’ve been about to go berserk not being able to get outside and walk.
 
Today’s temperature got up to 45 degrees but it was very windy. Yesterday we had wind gust up to 50 mph and our yard was a mess with pine cones and twigs so I decided, regardless of the cold I was going to get outside and clean up the yard.  Tomorrow is looking much better for picking up litter as the wind is suppose to be calmer.  
 
I picked up about 2 bushels of  pine cones and filled a big baby pool twice with limbs and twigs.  It felt so good to be outside working in the sun. Even though it was quite breezy I decided to walk down the road and pick up the litter.  I got in a good walk, not quite a mile, and filled half a bag with litter. Tomorrow I plan to walk the road in the other direction and get that cleaned up.
 
Today, when I got back to the house, I took the bottles and cans out of the bag to recycle and put the remainder of the trash in a 5 gallon bucket and decided to take a picture.  After taking my foot and pressing the trash down in the bucket, I poured it into a Wal-mart bag.  Then I flattened the recyclables and put them in a Wal-mart bag for comparison.  The two bags are equal in size.  The difference is if I had not separated it and it all went to the landfill,  the trash would decompose but the bottles and cans would be there forever.
 
You can put me down for another bucket.  I would not have been able to do all this cleaning up today without my reach extender.  It’s a must have tool for picking up litter and yard debris.

Betty from Louisburg, NC

We live in the country and a lot of the litter my husband and I pick up comes from folks hauling their household trash to the convenient site located at the end of our road. Some don’t secure their load and it does not take but one to make a big mess.

We keep 3 sections of roadside clean making a total of 2 miles. One of the sections is where 4 roads come together all leading to the convenient site. This is 5 miles from our home and we can’t keep it spotless but we do try to clean it up once a month.

The last time we had cleaned this area was in November as December was really busy plus very cold.  When we picked up in November, we were surprised to see that someone had thrown a big bag of trash over in the weeds beside a farm path near the road.  I told my husband that we needed to get it up or they would be adding to it.  We were not equipped to cut our way through the briars to get it and we didn’t get back again until the middle of January.  Sure enough, someone had added 4 more bags but lucky for us those 4 bags had not been there long.  They were still in tact and were not in the briars. Ray and I have been keeping this area clean since 1995 and this is the first time we have had to deal with a dump.

After getting that done, we walked the road and filled 6 more bags with litter. I have attached a picture of this load of trash.  It took only an hour and a half for the two of us to clean up this much litter. Makes me proud.

Parker from Manchester, NH

Parker from Manchester, NH is the newest member of the Bucket Heads club. Welcome aboard and well done to you Parker!

Parker wrote:

Ben and Lori, I too have been picking up litter all my life.  My favorite tools are a pull type of gripper and a wide mouth canvas type of bag from home depot, from this bag I transfer the trash to a regular trash bag.  Two weeks ago, I picked up 12 bags worth on an interstate exit about 1/10th of a mile long. This type of disregard continues to blow my mind, but I know that there are others like us out there.

Brin from Lynnwood, WA

I’ve been picking up litter at beaches from So. Cal, No. Cal, Lynnwood to Bellingham for years. I started doing it regularly when I came upon a young seal in the rocks at the shore that had some sort of plastic around its neck. I called Fish & Game for him, but by the time they got there there was no beach (tide came in).

So I pick stuff, especially trash and ropey plastic things and fishing line to try to get it not to happen again. The worst trash day is after July 4, when people go to the beach and leave their fireworks, especially in places like the Lummi ferry beach where they sell fireworks nearby. One year I took 800 pounds of fireworks crap and other garbage to the dump in Whatcom County. So if you’re ever looking for a special day to rally friends and invade beaches west of fireworks stands, July 5 is the day (and then somehow those beaches get re-trashed with leftover fireworks and picnic crap for the next few weeks, so there are plenty of excuses for followup trips to the beach.)

My most unusual item was a loaded, jammed semi-automatic pistol that someone plopped into the water, not knowing about tides, found at Meadowdale beach. The police said it was stolen.

I wonder if somebody could make a presentation to go around to schools with the photos you take, to encourage kids not to just unwrap that candy bar or whatever and drop the wrapper and walk away (which I see young folks do all the time).

Fran from Seattle, WA

Thanks to Fran from Seattle, WA for picking up a bag of roadside litter on Whidbey Island, WA. Well done making the world a cleaner place Fran!

Welcome to the Bucket Heads club Fran! 😀

Dana from Cosmopolis, WA

“I was inspired by your drive to help make the world a better place, and I decided to do a little cleaning up myself. A week ago, I attended the Hoquiam Cancer Run and saw that some teenagers, who had been “hanging out” on a nearby hill, had left a lot of trash laying in the grass. As I walked around the track, raising money for cancer research, I decided that I would take a break from walking and clean the hillside. The Cosmopolis Lions Club gladly offered me a large garbage bag to contain the garbage and within 30 minutes the hillside was again a nice place for other walkers to take a break.”

Brenda from Everett, WA

Thanks to Brenda for sending pictures of a recycling program she started in her workplace! Brenda put recycle bins around the office and when they fill up she takes them home and recycles.

Way to help make the world a cleaner place Brenda. And thank you for sharing your accomplishment with us.

Ben

David from Des Moines, IA

It was thirty-eight degrees when I set off with my bucket looking for trash here in Des Moines, Iowa. I decided that a nearby park would be the chosen site for clean up. As I drove to the park I went through an intersection that was littered with multiple potential buckets (maybe next week’s cleanup site). I’m almost embarrassed to write this but it only took me six minutes to fill my bucket. The most interesting thing I found was the 32 oz. bottle of Miller pictured next to me on the bench (no that wasn’t my reward for a job well done). In the six minutes that I spent working my mind quickly ran up against a dilemma I find myself in when thinking about recycling. That is, if I see something at work that can be recycled is it my responsibility to take it home, even if it isn’t mine? What if the object is already in the garbage? Do I reach in a pull it out ala’ George Castanza and the ice cream bar? Now that I’m a member of the bucket brigade I wonder if I’ll find myself in a similar quandary when I see any bit of garbage? More power to Ben and Lor’s idea. – David Lake (Des Moines, Iowa)

Barbara from Nashville, TN

Thanks to Barbara from Nashville, TN for joining the Bucket Head Brigade. She picked up a bag o’ trash in 20 minutes on Sunday 11/9. Check out her blog, she’s doing great things in Nashville.

Here’s a picture of her haul:

And my best guess as to where she helped make the world a cleaner place:

Would anyone else out there in the world like to fill a bucket, bag, or wheelbarrow and join us?

Thanks,

Ben

Your contributions

Bucket Heads are those great people who contribute to the enviroment and to our blog. We’ll post your stories and pictures here. Please email us with:

1. Where you filled your bucket(s)
2. How long it took to fill them
3. Pictures of your adventure

Click here to email us with your contributions.

Thanks for helping us help the world.

Ben and Lori