PORTLAND, Ore — Close to 60 people came out for a weekend cleanup held by a group called ‘Detrash Portland'.
Volunteers met at Buckman Elementary School in Southeast Portland and picked up trash for blocks.
Organizers say the coronavirus pandemic, the summer’s wildfires and other big events in 2020 have been so jarring, volunteering for something simple like picking up trash is therapeutic.
“There are so many problems like you mentioned that people don't know how they can control, but if you see a piece of trash, you pick up that piece of trash, that's the tangible difference that you made there,” said Peter Brewer, founder of ‘Detrash Portland.’ “Then times that by what you can do in two hours, how many thousands of pieces of trash that 60 people can basically pick up today... I am realistically expecting us to pick up 500 pounds of trash.”
By 2 p.m. the group had rounded up 67 bags of trash.
Their progress and plans for future cleanups, which are held weekly, can be found on their Instagram page.
Cleanups lead by other local groups, including ‘SOLVE Oregon’ can also be found here.