What is a litter walk?

Grab a bag, go outside, and walk around for a bit. Pick up any litter you see, and either take it home and put it with your garbage, or for extra credit, sort it out and recycle it. Come back when you’re done.

…

Congratulations, you just completed your first litter walk. Simple, isn’t it?

The Litter Walks blog is an effort to highlight and encourage people to go out and clean up the places they live, the places they vacation, and the rest of our great planet. I’m a constant traveler, and get to visit a lot of cities across the globe – and one thing that always stands out to me is the amount of litter on every street corner, no matter how expensive the neighborhood. People just don’t do a very good job of picking up after themselves or ensuring that their trash gets put into a proper bin. By going out and picking up after everyone else, my hope is that we pressure others not to stick with their old littering habits, and the world becomes a cleaner place for everybody.

I live in St. Louis, an older city that’s seen more than its share of hard knocks. Still, it’s filled with beautiful architecture, wonderful people, and a great city atmosphere. One problem it does have in abundance, however, is litter. As I see it, there are two reasons for this: we have a lot of pedestrian traffic and we have a lack of places to put waste.

My first goal is to pick up at least 1000 pounds of litter over the next year. My second goal is to encourage neighborhood associations and the city to install trash containers in trouble spots to help contain the problem.

I hope that you’ll join me in this effort in your own neighborhood.

Comments

[Sarah]

This is a great idea. I just created a Facebook group after noticing all the litter around St. Louis recently. Maybe its just me, but it seems there is a lot more out there recently.