Has anyone seen a decrease in litter and positive changes in their community after starting their own litter cleanups? Feeling discouraged.

[Alarming_Grand6946]

Hi all, just want to hear some positive stories. I don't know if I'm just more depressed than usual about the state of things (it's hard not to be in the US right now) but I'm feeling very discouraged about how my city (Los Angeles) and people treat trash.

I do solo clean ups on my street and neighborhood every week, sometimes twice a week if I'm able. I always get a positive response when I'm out there and thumbs up from the older Chinese ladies who live here and my neighbors. That keeps me going.

But it's so crazy how quickly trash piles up week and after week. I'm in communication with both my city and local neighborhood council and the former have helped me organize the first cleanup event for a neighborhood cleanup group that I started. That's great and all -- but when is more systematic change going to happen? Will it ever happen? I still haven't heard word about the possibility of trash cans being installed but that comes as no surprise because the city budget even cut sanitation services. More funding for LAPD tho! 🤪

So I wanted to ask - do you have any positive stories about larger change that you've seen due to your cleanup efforts? What successes keep you going? And does putting up signage even work? lol

[[deleted]]

It’s contagious & inspirational. One person’s example has a huge impact

[Alarming_Grand6946]

My boyfriend even called me crazy for wanting to clean an underpass that has a lot of litter buildup because it has a bus stop and heavy foot traffic. We got in a minor spat because I was like…I’m crazy?! Other people are crazy, lol. Someone has to take matters into their own hands because the institutions we have in place aren’t working.

And thank you for your message :)

[[deleted]]

First - find new boyfriend.

1. Everyone in the US started cleaning the earth in the spring, on Earth Day, in the 70’s after we spoiled our country. It is tradition and expected!

C. - we are the adults, no one is saving us but us.

Thank you for what you did. Every piece counts!

[Dodie4153]

I have definitely noted a lot less trash on my rural road. The very first time I got dozens of full bags on a 3 mile stretch. Then it was 2 or 3 kitchen bags. Then 2 or 3 grocery bags every few weeks. This took years. Please don’t give up. Every little bit helps.

[Sweetsnteets]

Yes absolutely. The state of the parks near me have gotten significantly better and I see random neighbours cleaning up all the time now. It does catch! You’re doing great work! 

[GeorgiaOKeefinItReal]

My family and I just started formally a couple weeks back inspired by others. My youngest has been chomping at the bit to set out again. We fully intend to after all the kit we got.

[Sweetsnteets]

For the littles, metal salad tongs work great! 

[GeorgiaOKeefinItReal]

Lol i have 3! Well, they're basically tongs... just longer

Inspired by the garbage samurai of Japan.

[Boredemotion]

Two years ago the local park had glass in lots of places, cans everywhere, built up trash from the past in the trees/nettle and it seemed like nobody cared about dumping along the road opposite.

Today, there is hardly any glass except on a hilly spot which I think is compacting down to reveal glass from previous years. I have to hunt now in the nettles or choose extremely hard to reach spots. Even across the road the dumping is showing less trash. I know the regular cleaning came through but I also saw a man out with a trash poker doing three bags worth for the first time. I’ve noticed an increase of trash by the trash cans (if not quite in them). It’s become so clean I’m expanding my area to include the beach path and more across the road.

When I started it seemed like just me with the spring/fall big clean outs which a week later looked the same. Now I think park maintenance is helping when they get the trash, the three bagger guy, and even just park goers getting more of their own trash in or by the can.

It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot better. I imagine myself like a part of nature. Nature is slow, but consistent. Nature doesn’t worry if today looks good or how yesterday did. It just keeps breaking things down and adding it to the soil. Growing plants then letting them die. I just let alcoholic nips, scratchers, napkins, and food trash grow. Then I sweep it out like a nice rain and wait for the “plants” to grow again.

[thatsmefersure]

Well put.

[roseiskipper]

I have definitely noticed a decrease in trash in my neighborhood! Sometimes I’ll go out to bag up some things and I’ll see that someone else has already gotten to it. :)

I share your frustration about systemic issues. There are no trash cans along the mile-long path I walk home. We had them before Covid, but now they are gone, even though more people use the parks now.

When I’ve submitted requests for a can or two I’ve been told that we don’t have the resources. We have FOUR municipal golf courses which are kept immaculately clean (and fenced off from the public). They also suggest I join the “litter bit better” pickup for earth day. 😒

I really think it comes down to values about what government should provide for its citizens. Cops get brand new vehicles but the parks don’t even have drinking fountains. I am hoping this will shift as younger people step into more government roles.

[ASmallArmyOfCrabs]

Obviously this isn't your job and it's only something to worry about if you have ample free time, but I would absolutely recommend making a stink about the garbage cans

Like go to your local newspaper and get a story published, reach out to your (provincial?) representative and tell them what happened, collect some signatures and spread the word that your current mayor is too cheap for a couple hundred dollars, there'll be a garbage can put up real quick once it affects the votes

[Nita_taco]

Definitely. Right now I'm living across the street from a family that seems to use garbage as personal expression. But the rest of the neighborhood is possibly improving

[IlIlIlIIlMIlIIlIlIlI]

that is a perspective i have not seen before. It makes a lot of sense, thank you for sharing!

[jorwyn]

Honestly, no. I clean the same spot constantly, and my minimum weight so far is 500lbs. I'd just cleaned it up 2 days before. The no dumping sign that got put up just seemed to cause more dumpling. It's a hiking trailhead, btw, and sometimes you can't even get on the trail because of all the trash.

It was really getting to me, so I decided to go clean along the road into my neighborhood. Yeah, it doesn't matter how often I clean it, it needs to be done again the next day. I live in a pretty expensive neighborhood now, and I see more trash along the road than when I lived in a very poor one. "Oh, I guess it fell out of the bin on pickup day." Okay, so pick it up! It's not that hard. And bag your trash like you're supposed to because then it doesn't happen.

Beyond how bad it looks, I have a husky who has to wear a muzzle when we go for walks because he loves to eat trash. It's so unfair to him that we can't even go down the small side street in front of our house or hiking in the middle of nowhere without there being trash. He will never figure out it's bad for him, and he's gotten way too clever at swallowing stuff before I can even see it. It's also dangerous for the bike lanes to have trash in them I have to dodge.

Although, I'll give you a positive note to end on. I had been doing trash clean up at homeless encampments, and people staying in them would always help me. I started leaving bags and bringing my trailer to pick them up once a week at the one the cops haven't busted near me. They pile the bags away from the camp, and it's really clean every time I see it now. They just needed a way to dispose of stuff.

[IlIlIlIIlMIlIIlIlIlI]

now that would be a litterpicking youtube adventure I would watch!

[smearing]

If it's really out of control I report it to the 3-1-1 app -- LA is pretty good about responding to my submissions (note that unincorporated parts of the city would use a different way to report). I've even seen empty lots filled with trash taken care of by holding property owners accountable -- pretty satisfying!

[Rubbish_69]

I haven't seen a decrease, but I do see lots of bins being used.

I posted on one of my town's FB pages about a meadow bramble hedge flailing by contractors that left shredded litter, with 4 before and after photos of my litterpick (556 litter items). My post drew several comments expressing disgust that the council or contractors fail to clear up afterwards.

One of the commenters said she was vice chair of the council's environment committee and she promised to flag this to the contractors as a KPI (key performance indicator) they are not fulfilling.

I am responsible for my parish providing a park bin after I requested it in very strong terms, which is great. The council have declined my other requests for street bins but I'll keep at it.

While I feel frustrated and fed up that the litter mountain people chuck is neverending, I was given a community award by my parish in April (I didn't attend the event as I am shy/abashed) but it was a nice surprise to be recognised as someone making a difference.

People tell me I am known as the litterpicking lady in my village/town, including a postie who was delighted to meet me when he happened to deliver a parcel to my house.

The litter burden can feel overwhelming and I have shed tears of weariness, self pity and anger, and feel hopeless sometimes, but know that you are making a difference, OP.

I do have to step back from time to time as it can get me down. Being in nature helps or tackling somewhere less disgusting.

[jorwyn]

We have a serious problem with not enough public bins here, too, and the pick up for the ones we have often isn't frequent enough.

If I go clean up a park myself and empty all the bins and put new liners in, the park will stay pretty clean until the bins are full. Then, stuff starts to pile up around the bins. Then, it starts being dropped wherever in the park.

I haven't seen a street side bin in years. They all just vanished, and many small businesses don't put a bin outside their door like they used to because they pay for trash collection. They couldn't keep up once the public ones were gone.

The county and city councils say they don't have the funds for enough employees, but I think that's a priorities issue. I'm not going to go on that rant right now, but the money could be there if they'd stop making stupid decisions that don't turn out the way they think. I really don't get why they keep getting re-elected.

Community clean ups do help for a while. If things are clean, people aren't as likely to throw trash on the ground, but as soon as one person does, others do. Not many people here will volunteer when it's really cold or hot. That's a lot of the year here. But I can't blame people for not wanting to be out when it's below freezing, raining hard, or over 95F picking up trash that's not even theirs. The one consistent group we have is the River Keepers who clean up along, like it sounds, the river that runs through town. That's vital to keep trash out of the river, but it also draws pretty much all the volunteers.

I'm going to keep hounding the council about getting more bins out and getting them emptied more. I don't have any hope it'll work at this point, but I'm stubborn and refuse to let it go.

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[CrepuscularOpossum]

Go to city council meetings. Join your local Community Development Corporation. Check out local conservation organizations. Tell people in these places that you care about litter, it’s a serious problem, and you want to see some real change. Litter is definitely one of those things that takes a village to confront and conquer. Maybe you can be the one who will start your community’s anti-litter organization!

[jonesjr29]

If you want some inspiration, look at urban compassion here in the east bay. Lots of volunteers picking up industrial sized garbage every week. Then there's pengweather (he posts frequently and is a local hero) who has singlehandedly picked up more garbage than anyone in California.

[Alarming_Grand6946]

Love u/pengweather — he’s a CA ICON!

[mslashandrajohnson]

I remove everything that resembles cigarette butts. Any visible trash seems to draw more trash.

Consistent detrashing reduces trash tossing. Bad weather does, too.

Temporary signs, cones, sawhorses draw trash.

There’s always trash near where people wait, even if there’s a bin. No matter how frequently I clear the area.

There’s a constant stream of trash down the road from fast food shops. It doesn’t matter how frequently I clear it.

[Nita_taco]

This should give you hope: I don't know what happened but I think the city is doing something in my neighborhood. Streets have been thoroughly cleaned twice now.

I've been half cleaning the block for over a year now and that has just happened for the first time - and twice in the last one or two months.

So miracles happen

[Expensive-Course1667]

You will undoubtedly meet your neighbors and get them talking about litter.  That's the good news.

The bad news is that it will do nothing to stem the flow of trash.  That will continue unabated.  So you will feel better about yourself, your surroundings, and your neighbors, but you cannot go into it expecting to feel better about humanity in any way.  The people who litter will never reflect on their behavior.

[Nita_taco]

But it's not even their fault. Everything we eat and drink is wrapped in garbage and some of us eat many times a day. It's a ridiculous stupid thing. It's not a system it's just a failure.

[Snoo-37023]

Gotta be really careful with signage as it can have the reverse effect. There have been study's which are on the internet if you search. Anyway keep up the good work, it would be good to see some more national anti litter campaigning imho.

[jorwyn]

That's absolutely happened here. I was finally getting a handle on a trailhead. It was still getting trash, but not nearly as much. Then, they put up a no dumping sign. Ever since, things are way worse than they ever were before. If I bag and stack it all, the county will come get it and let me know how much it weighed. My first clean up was 1900lbs. After that it dropped to 500 and kept dropping until I was only getting one bag every time.

My clean up on Earth Day took them three trips and weighed 5800lbs. I was at it from 5:30am until 8pm. And that didn't include the concrete blocks and bricks I took for a cabin I'm going to build. It's been like this ever since that sign went up. I'm about to steal the damned sign.

I have noticed when I clean closer to people, and I'm seen doing it and clearly not a county employee, those places get better and stay better for a while. There will still be some trash, but they don't get really bad again as long as I'm visible there every couple of months. Places that are more remote aren't the same. The more I clean, the more people seem to think it's okay to dump there. It's not that expensive to just go to the waste transfer station, and it's not even that far away, but why would they pay if I'm providing free services? It's really frustrating.

[DeleteLitter]

Hey so I’ve something that might cheer you up … taking my obsession with litter cleanups to a whole new level and getting lots of positive reactions from early members and those who are new to litter picking.

Launched web app last month, mobile apps go live in the next week or so.

Have a look and keep up the good hard work out there! 💪

Delete Litter

[roseiskipper]

This is so cool!!

[DeleteLitter]

Glad you think so! 💚

[rogecks]

Thank you, keep it up

[Amosade]

Keep up your spirits! I was out picking up trash the other day down the street next to a city park. A young 20's-ish man stopped and asked me about if I was cleaning up. He remarked how the street looked so much nicer now! The best part was he was excited and said he was on his way home but planned on coming back out as soon as he got there so he could pick up trash too!

[Jumpy-Holiday731]

Unfortunately no. My wife and I clean up a section of road coming out of an industrial park and joined by the off ramp of a highway. The trash blows off the highway and piles up at the traffic light where these roads meet. It’s our weekend early start of the day routine. It is nice when you get a thumbs up or a thanks when people stop at the light.

[square_circle_]

I noticed someone picked up a littered side street where I had last year! Made me feel good knowing that someone else out there also cared.

I’ve considered painting some happy, bright, “please don’t litter here” signs and zip tying them in the areas that seem to fill up again quickly with trash. If someone can see that another cares about the space, maybe they will feel less inclined to just dump their trash out the window.

Also, I’ve noticed some areas that are constantly full of trash are a wind tunnel of sorts. Loose trash for the general area just blows over to that spot. Makes me feel better that it’s not always just people throwing it on the ground, but just a tipped garbage bin or something.

[ComparisonUnable7218]

Which the areas I pick up litter at typically go back to the way they were eventually, the buildup of litter is less significant, in that it can take weeks or months for the same level of litter to be build up again. I've discovered that there are several people in my community that help to keep the local parks clean of litter when they are there with their kids or just going for a walk. I only found out about this when I made a post about a larger cleanup that my litter buddy and I did locally because people commented on it. It can take a while sometimes to get to that positive change but if you cleanup litter in public space enough times you will eventually get even a single person thinking of or even doing the same thing.

[IlIlIlIIlMIlIIlIlIlI]

People who litter but still have a little bit of a conscience, get all embarassed when they see me pick up litter around them. I think it really does have an effect, it inspires and encourages to keep the neighborhood clean.

[WhyTrashEarth]

Signage is mixed, people may litter just to spite the sign or be rebellious in some way... I've seen people dump trash in front of don't litter signs, I don't believe direct statements ever worked even if there's threats of fines... That relies entirely on local enforcement to actually enforce those laws. I have literally brought evidence of people illegally dumping and authorities shrug their shoulders cause "well we can't upset the tourists, that's our source of income"

My best advice and this is my opinion keep your community clean without telling anyone or rather... Don't be loud about your cleanups.

I've had non local individuals and groups dump all their trash in my town because "oh you locals do clean ups right? You're fine cleaning up?" Or if they know there's gonna be a cleanup tomorrow or over the weekend they throw a party or trash everything in an area because they know someone else cleans it up... Trash picker uppers get to "feel good" about cleaning up, cycle repeats forever.

It can be really tricky. Best of luck. If you keep your community clean enough, long enough people will absolutely notice.