Some time in college, I decided I would spend a couple of hours when I had the chance to pick up trash in my local parks. It quickly developed into a hobby of mine. Almost every weekend I would be out in parks picking up trash for 3-4 hours. I used grocery bags and cheap gloves to pick up trash. As I found discarded grocery bags, I would use them to keep my supply going so I could be out longer. Eventually, I bought some work gloves and a box of contractor trash bags. I also got some boots as my paths were often muddy. I have slowly refined my process down and am pretty effective at picking up lage quantities of trash in my few-hour walks.
I have cleaned up hundreds of pounds of trash by hand. It started in parks, but now I mostly clean up the roadside near my house, which runs over a river. It is a never-ending uphill battle to try to keep that street clean. So, I have decided to document this process. With this blog, I also want to keep a running weight counter for the pounds of trash I have picked up. In order to track this, I have a hanging scale that I will bring with me to weigh the bags before I throw them away. I have a goal of 1,000 pounds by the end of the year. At this point, I am not sure how long this will take.
I have none and cannot commit to any sort of schedule for these walks, but I try to get them in as often as I can. It does usually eat up a day, though, as it is essentially a several-hour workout. Time commitment aside, the walks are rather refreshing. They allow me to zone out and ground myself in simple work. Along the way, I also find odd trinkets, cool mushrooms, and other interesting things. What I find unique enough for documentation, I will post here.