Trash Mob volunteers remove littler along East Hwy 50
Trash Mobs are a grassroots community effort coordinated by Muscle Powered volunteers to keep the walkways and bike paths around Carson City free of litter.
The monthly, one-hour events take place at various locations around town that are in need of cleaning. Volunteers, who are supplied with work gloves and trash bags by Muscle Powered staff, remove litter from areas often used by citizens for recreational purposes such as walking, jogging or cycling.
A mother helps her son remove trash near Stewart St during a Trash Mob
According to Muscle Powered’s Randy Gaa, “The idea is to keep our trails free of litter, whether they’re paved or dirt. For example, we’ve removed tons of garbage from the paths along the Carson River. We’ve even had volunteers pull appliances and car parts out of the water.”
The idea of the Trash Mob was conceived by former president of Muscle Powered, Donna Inversin. Inversin had been planning the Trash Mob project for some time, but had difficulty fitting the event into her schedule. During a Muscle Powered conditioning hike in 2015, Randy Gaa complained to Inversin about litter he had seen, and Inversin recruited Gaa to be the new Trash Mob project coordinator.
Since that time, Trash Mobs have been involved in removing thousands of pounds of trash from the trails all over Carson City. The project has grown both in scope and participation. In 2016, in partnership with Carson City’s Parks, Recreation, and Open Space division, Trash Mobs were involved in removing invasive species of noxious weeds from Horse Creek Ranch. In another Trash Mob project, the father and son team of Todd and Ari Erickson coordinated the removal of old tree protectors that had been put in by the Forrest Service after the Waterfall Fire in 2004 and had long since outlived their usefulness.
Litter that was found along the Carson River and removed by a Trash Mob
This Saturday, August 26th the Trash Mob will be removing littler from the area along the Multi-Use Path that follows the freeway near College Parkway. The event has been held at this spot multiple times in the past. According to Gaa, “It’s a bad spot due to a couple of reasons. First the wind blows trash in from two nearby big box stores and the fence along the path acts like a net, catching the litter. Secondly, the area is just out of view enough to allow people to illegally dump garbage without being easily seen.”
All interested individuals are encouraged to join the effort by participating in this month’s Trash Mob. With the idea of increasing participation by minimizing the impact to volunteer’s schedule, the Trash Mob event is only one hour long and held early enough in the morning so that it does not conflict with other weekend activities.
For more details or to join Muscle Powered, go to the organization’s website at: www.musclepowered.org
August Trash Mob details:
Date: Saturday, August 26th
Time: 8:00 am – 9:00 am
Location: Meet up at parking lot between Dotty’s Casino and US Bank just north of the Walmart Parking lot off College Parkway. For a Google map of the meet up location, go to: https://tinyurl.com/y7xdb2dy
Work gloves and trash bags will be provided.