No matter where I go or what I am doing, I always pick up litter. Most of my time is spent picking up other people’s trash in my hometown of Walpole, NH. I feel like we should be proud of where we live and we should give back to our communities and, more importantly, our planet. When I ride around our local roads, I see how litter takes away from this beautiful place. I’ve seen bird nests made with plastic and found countless dead animals inside containers that should not have been there. If I can’t change people’s behavior, I can at least change our environment in the best way I know how. Last year, I started counting how many cans and bottles I picked up (3,076 cans and 1,648 bottles).

This year, I decided to add how many bags I have filled and how many pounds I have collected. Today is April 7th and I’ve picked up 1,639 cans, 849 bottles, filled 44 bags, and collected 895 lbs of litter since January 1st, mostly in Walpole. This past weekend, my husband joined me on a particularly bad section of road and together we collected 349 lbs of litter! I included a picture of our haul from Sunday, April 5th. If one or two people can do this, imagine how much cleaner our world would be if everyone picked up at least one piece of trash a day! I hope this post inspires others to pick up their neighborhoods. After every litter picking session, I reward myself with a treat. Sometimes it’s a cold beverage and a candy bar. Other times it’s a delicious, filling meal – like a tuna melt from The Works.