Oscar’s Enemies Tacoma: Building Community Through Litter Cleanup with Jessica Tweed

Episode Transcript

Oscar’s Enemies Tacoma: Building Community Through Litter Cleanup with Jessica Tweed
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[00:00:00] This is Channel 2 5 3, move to Tacoma On this episode of Move to Tacoma. One of my sisters, um, has a marketing business and so she helps kind of with some of the marketing stuff behind the scenes. And we were like, we gotta have a good name. Yeah. Um, and we were just talking on the phone one night and kind of brainstorming and threw out some ideas and we were like, no, not that.

And then. And we grew up in the eighties and Oscar the Grouch, you know, and I was like, Oscar, Oscar’s, Oscar’s enemies. It really was kind of one of those light bulb things and she was like, yes, that’s it. And from from there it was like, yep, that’s who we are. No questions. Channel 2 5 3 is member supported.

I’m producer Doug Mackey, and I hope you’ll show your support by going to channel two five three.com/membership. And join. Thank you. We are back. I’m Marguerite. And I want you to move to Tacoma. Move to Tacoma. Move to Tacoma. Move to Tacoma. You’ll like it. Move to Tacoma. Move to [00:01:00] Tacoma. Move to tacoma.com.

Hi, I’m Marguerite with move to tacoma.com and we’re here today with Jessica Tweed from Oscar’s Enemies. Welcome Jessica. Thanks for having me. So I wanna hear all about your volunteer organization that picks up trash around Tacoma. But before that, when did you move to Tacoma and why? Originally moved to Tacoma in fifth grade with my family, just to change and transition.

I currently live in Tacoma with my husband, um, and have lived in Tacoma ever since. Um, we live in near sixth staff. Awesome. So what do you like about living in your neighborhood? What’s the best part? I love how walkable it is. I love being close to all the bars, the businesses. Um, yeah, it’s just a great place.

That’s awesome. Um, are there any places that you’re especially into going these days? I love going to Grit City books and also I’m really excited that gather’s gonna be coming back. Yes, that’s a good one. Juice just in time for summer. Absolute. [00:02:00] So I have seen for the last few years these pictures of people in different neighborhoods all around Tacoma, getting together to pick up trash.

As if by magic, and I’ve been speculating, I’ve been trying to figure it out, like, how is this happening? Is this a nonprofit, is this a government grant? Like what is happening? But, but what is Oscar’s enemies? Like what is this group? I mean, besides being enemies of trash. Yeah. A lot of people ask that question.

Yeah. We’re, we’re a hundred percent volunteers. Uh, the volunteers who pick up the trash. And then we have specialized leaders who have some more involvement. They’re route leaders. We, uh, meet quarterly just to kind of discussion initiatives and what we wanna do moving forward. But all of us are volunteers.

We all have full-time jobs and this is just something started really small, the passion project, and has grown to something more than I could ever have imagined. Well, tell me how it started. How was this your idea? I can’t take all the credit. Um, I have an amazing family. Um, my sister, one of my sisters, um, for my [00:03:00] birthday, 2020 in September, been like, Hey, what do you wanna do for your birthday?

I was like, I don’t know. You know, we’re a bits of pandemic. Wanna be safe, still wanna connect with people. Um, and she had said, you’ve always, you’ve always liked picking up trash or that’s been important to you. You know, us as a family, do you wanna do that for your birthday? And I was like, absolutely. And so it started, you know, just right in our neighborhood.

Um. Like I mentioned, sixth th and family, my sisters, my brother, close friends, some babies. My mom and dad, um, just went up and down sixth th and picked up trash for my birthday. Can I ask? She says you’ve always loved picking up trash. I feel like I should ask a follow up question. I, I mean, I love this for you.

Well, yeah. How did this happen? Yeah. Well, no, maybe I should clarify. Just litter has always been something that has bothered me right. Since I was little. And so we as a family would pick up litter and so just something that, that, yeah. Litter always bothered me and she was like, so maybe not [00:04:00] love picking up trash, but the environment, um, care for the community.

Those things have been important and, and we, you know, there had been a lot of trash, increasing trash around that time. And so something that we had talked about, so we kind of connect the dots a little bit. So what was it like that first day out? Like, did you have like trash picker uppers? Were you already kind of professional about this?

Like how did you organize it even with just your family in the middle of the pandemic? Yeah, we had, we had grabbers and we had, um. There was a lot of people who had been getting, you know, grocery delivery, so we were just reusing those bags. Oh yeah. Um, and so that’s really how it started. And at that time too, um, my husband was kind of driving around in his truck, picking up our, our full bags.

And so that is where it all started. And so how, like, and then where do you dump your trash? Would you just all put it back in your own trash bins or did somebody have a dumpster, or how did you do that? It sounds like a lot of trash at the end of the day. Yeah, I think the first one, I mean, we, we guessed at that [00:05:00] point we just were like, oh, this is 75 pounds.

Yeah. Um, and so we just put it in our garbage can at that point. Um, but yeah, Andy was collecting it and so we’d just dump our bags and we’d, we’d, um, either get new ones or use the ones that we already had. Okay, so I, I wanna share, like, outside looking in, like the story is so interesting. Mm-hmm. Because I, I went and picked up trash last weekend for the first time.

I thought, okay, before the podcast, I should, I’ve watched, I also felt really bad. Like I’ve been watching for years, everybody else picking up trash, and I’ve been like, I really should go do that. I really should go do that. And I, I finally signed up, and this is what’s blowing my mind, is that this is a volunteer operation.

Yeah. I was just, as I was experiencing it, I was like, there is. Somebody is paying for something here because I was getting like multiple confirmation emails. And then when I got there, like everybody had like safety vests and equipment and gloves and it was just like a well-oiled machine. And then you were like, those are your root captains and they’re gonna, you’re gonna follow them.

And then there was a photographer and I was like, this is such a [00:06:00] organized thing and you’re telling me every single person from soup to nuts. This is a volun. The person who sent me an email volunteer. That’s me. Yeah. Oh my God. And this, I just think that’s incredible. Yeah, it is. And you’ve been doing it for years.

Five years. It’ll be six in September. I, I just think like, okay. So how many people, the first time you did it, when you opened it up to the public, to the p Uh, 32 I think was the first one. We, the first one was like, I had mentioned September, 2020, and then the, the second one was just a smaller group of friends.

That was 2021 in January. And then, uh, February, 2021 is when, um, our Instagram went live when we had, you know, the Google forms to sign up and became a little, you know, we were Oscar’s enemies. I was just gonna say, I feel like I probably should ask you about the name I probably should have asked right off the bat.

Yeah. We, um. Uh, one of my sisters, um, [00:07:00] has a marketing business and so she helps kind of with some of the marketing stuff behind the scenes. And we were like, we gotta have a good name. Yeah. Um, and we were just talking on the phone one night and kind of brainstorming and threw out some ideas and we were like, no, not that.

And then we grew up in the eighties and Oscar the Grouch, you know, and I was. Oscar Oscar’s, Oscar’s enemies. It really was kind of one of those light bulb things, and she was like, yes, that’s it. And from from there it was like, yep, that’s who we are. No questions. It’s so good because, I mean, there’s so few things.

It’s really okay to be enemies with Right. In, uh, 2026, but like, I feel like trash is safe. Yeah. Like who’s, who’s defending the trash? Yeah. In this environment, we’re gonna pick it up or get rid of it. You gotta pick it up. Get rid of it, Oscar, get it together. Uhhuh. I love it. And I wore green in honor of, um, and I see we both, yeah, we both did.

Mm-hmm. I, I love that. Um, you have like, such a clear vision for, uh, like even just when, when I got there, there was green, like a lot of people were wearing green. Was that my hallucinating? Well, the route leaders vest are green just to [00:08:00] distinguish them. And then we have beanies in various colors of green just to differentiate as well.

Um, but yeah, try to keep within a color palette, um, with our little tent and stuff. So. So along the lines of the organizing. ’cause I think there’s probably people listening, going like, maybe not trash pickup. Maybe trash pickup. Mm-hmm. But also something else they have that they care about, that they’d like to organize volunteers in their community to just get out there and get it done.

Yeah. Right. But to me, that administrative, the consistency, like that seems like the hardest part. Yeah. Is that not? Um, I think it kind of depends on who, who a person is. Um. I, I’m kind of a strategic thinker and am able to kind of prioritize and streamline things. And so I think that is a strength of mine.

And so as far as the organization piece of it and being able to kind of delegate what I can do on my own, where is this to reach, where can I reach out to the community? Who within my immediate circle, and then looking [00:09:00] outside my immediate circle to the people who come with consistency. Um, and not to say people have to come with consistency, to have meaning or value, right?

But who I can incorporate into the group. Um, and so yeah, trusting other people, making connections. I think it’s, it’s been something that, like I said, like we talked about, it started really small, but then evolving, remaining innovative and creative, but sticking with what works. So how often are you doing the trash pickups now?

In 2026? Yeah. So they’re um, march through, no, that’s wrong. October through April. We do one and then, yes. No, that’s wrong. No, no, I have the dates are, we do two a year, spring and summer. The rest of the months we do one. That’s an easier way to say it. Wait. How many a year then? I’m sorry, I’m having to do the math in my head.

18. Oh, 18. Yeah, we’ve [00:10:00] done 88. The, the one, um, in April, Jessica would be 89. Yeah. You do 18 volunteer trash pickups a year. Yes. And how many people come to this thing on average? 80. You know, lower end, uh, 60. We’ve had as many as 125. This is incredible. Yeah. The, the ones where we do, uh, the months where we do two, it’s a quick pick, right?

So it’s different. Those are one hour. Um, we go to a location that needs a little love, but not, and they’re not structured. It’s like we meet here, um, this is the area. Come back in an hour and off we go. Yeah. Um, they’re not as structured. There’s route leaders that are there. Um, the truck doesn’t drive around.

It’s just, um, there are different times of the day. Mm-hmm. Um, different days of the week just to give opportunity to folks who don’t wanna get up at. 9:00 AM on a Saturday. Mm-hmm. I did notice it was very early. It, yes, it’s early for me too. Alright, well I have a lot more questions about this. This is blowing my mind.

18 pickups with 75 to [00:11:00] a hundred people. Yeah. That’s unreal. Okay, we’re gonna go to break and then we’ll be right back. This is Eric Hanberg, host of the Channel 2 5 3 podcast Citizen Tacoma. And this is producer Doug. When my wife and I needed to sell our condo in downtown Tacoma, we wanted an expert in that niche market, and I needed an expert in selling a home as part of an estate sale.

We both turned to Marguerite Martin from move to tacoma.com. She’s a real estate matchmaker. She finds you the perfect agent for whatever your situation. Not every agent knows what to do in every situation. You want an agent that knows your situation. Best of all, your agent pays Marguerite a finder’s fee out of their commission.

So using a real estate matchmaker to help you find the best agent won’t cost you a thing, visit move to tacoma.com. Connect with Marguerite and find the agent that’s right for you. Thank you Marguerite Martin, and move to Tacoma for your longtime support of Channel 2 5 3, move to Tacoma. We’re back with Jessica Tweed from Oscar’s Enemies.

Thanks for [00:12:00] being here, Jessica. So you were just telling us that you do 18 trash pickups a year with all volunteers and you do it in neighborhoods all over Tacoma. Yeah, all over Tacoma. How do you figure out where you’re gonna do the trash pickup? Do you just wait for someone to say It’s really messy on my street.

Um. That does happen. There’s a lot of things that we take into consideration, but as far as area and, and some of those things are okay, so we gotta have a meeting place that’s big enough for a hundred people or so. And their cars. Yeah. Parking. Yeah. Um, we wanna make sure there’s crosswalks and so thinking of safety, um, I like to.

The routes either to go down one side of the street and back or within a square. ’cause I don’t want people to waste time backtracking. Right. So those are some considerations and, and litter. Right. Um, and so we, we drive, there’s a route leader who’s been a friend of mine since, um, since high school. And we actually like drive the road.

Looking for litter that meet our criteria that are you [00:13:00] like, is this dirty enough for us? Is this trashy enough? Do you see litter? It’s funny ’cause if we can see it from driving, then we know that there’s more. Mm-hmm. Um, but it, it really does, it takes anywhere from two to four hours to develop route.

Like just, just driving around because we can start in an area and then it’s like, well, it doesn’t have. You know, there’s not crosswalks, there’s not a place to cross or where, where are we gonna park? Or are bathrooms accessible? Um, when we can, we wanna make sure that there are places, right. It’s, it’s, it’s harder than one would think, but yeah.

Um, yeah. So we’re driving around, we call it route scouting, looking for litter. Um, folks can let us know, um, hey, there’s, there’s a lot of litter in this area. We always take that into consideration. Um. And that’s how we come up. That’s how we come up with routes. We actually, this is a question people ask a lot is why do you not announce a location sooner?

It’s because, yeah. Um. In the beginning we were doing that, and then when the pickup came, the litter would be gone. The, the wind blows the seriously, like the [00:14:00] wind will blow. The wind blows. I was like, oh, the city came by and picked it up, or Yeah, or somebody picked that. That too. You, like, we’ll see folks out in the community picking trash up and so to ensure that there’s enough trash for everyone, we, this is a thing we route scout on on the Saturday or Sunday before, and so I, I would like to be able to let folks know sooner.

Um. But it just hasn’t worked out to be efficient or effective. Okay. So the way that it works is you’ll announce like on your social media, or I imagine like in an email newsletter. Mm-hmm. This is gonna be our next pickup day and people can sign up to pick up trash. They just don’t know where they’re going.

Correct. Okay. And then a week before, you let them know the location a week before. Okay. So they get a confirmation within a few days of RSV Ping on Thursday. I send out the Thursday before a pickup. I send out, um, a confirmation and the maps, um, of the, of the route. And as soon as I know the location, which is usually a week beforehand, I’ll um, add that to the confirmation email and resend it out to folks who’ve already received it.[00:15:00]

So as you’ve been doing this, as you’ve picked up trash in different neighborhoods across Tacoma, like what have you learned about Tacoma? Oh, it, one of the things that I love so much is being able to explore Tacoma on foot. ’cause like I mentioned, I’m a walker. I love walking around. Um, I love the architecture, um, love local businesses.

And to be able to see Tacoma on foot is so much different than driving. I, you can just see the art. You get to like, connect with the people who are in the community, the people who own the businesses. And it’s just like a vibe that, it’s kind of hard to explain but just resonates with me. Just this community feeling.

And so that’s something that. Has been really, um, yeah, impactful to me. Um, and. We take photos. Um, one of my sisters a photographer and also a friend that I’ve known since fifth grade, um, they alternate and we have this incredible archive of photos that has shown Tacoma evolve, um, with businesses come and go.

Right. Um, [00:16:00] things being built, it’s just really cool art. Murals. That’s another thing that I love, um, to see, um, when we’re, when we’re walking around. Yeah. I saw a mural I’d never seen before when we were picking up trash. I was like, what is this? Or just looking at a building and noticing something or that little piece of street art or that little flower that’s growing out of the, the crack on the, of the brick.

I mean, those are things that, that, that I appreciate. Also, it’s really cool to see families connect or people connect. It’s an opportunity to also be by be Be by yourself. Put your earbuds in. Yeah, do your thing. If there’s not, I try to structure them or to keep them pretty, pretty chill. There’s some people are like, well play music and like get people going.

And I’ve kind. That’s really not my, my temperament or my personality, but I want people to feel like they don’t, they, they just have to show up. And so yeah, I try to keep it kind of low stakes where you come, people come to pick up litter, obviously, but I think it’s kind the community, whether you’re by yourself and just kind of solo, it’s [00:17:00] still, there’s something kind of synergistic that I think comes from being a part of something collective and there’s that immediate.

The kind of gratification, right? You see litter, you pick it up, it’s gone. You drive the route and you see, okay, it, it’s not here anymore. Um, yeah. So I think there’s that kind of immediate gratification that people appreciate too. Like they can see the effort that they’ve put in. When I signed up, I didn’t realize I signed up on spring Forward day.

Mm-hmm. So it was already, I try not to be out the bed before 11 on a Sunday. Right. And so then it’s like, okay, it starts at eight 30. But it’s actually really seven 30 and like I’m dragging myself in there. I out of the sea warmers on the car with my coffee. And like, I think the idea, if there had been like blaring music, like that might’ve been like a lot.

But everybody was very chill. Yeah. And like a very calm lady talking chitchat. Like a little bit of chitchat. Yeah. And then we started cleaning up and it was like, oh, some people are talking to each other. Yeah. But I was like, I found it very like. [00:18:00] Meditative. Yes. I was just kind of on my own and I did not get bored.

I was like, vibing. And also, I think the thing people might be thinking of is like, that sounds disgusting, right? Like, you’re picking up nasty tr, you’re seeing terrible gross things, right? Mm-hmm. We were in downtown Tacoma. You’re gonna see the odd, uh, you know, you, you’re gonna see, you’re gonna see a lot.

You’re gonna see, you’re gonna see broken glass, you’re gonna see human waste. You’re gonna see like, real, like literally bags of garbage basically that have been dumped out, right? Mm-hmm. Like there’s all different kinds of things that you see. And I didn’t, I didn’t care at all. I was like, do, do, do, do.

Like, mm-hmm. I loved it. Yeah. What, what was happening to me? I don’t know. I think, I think that there’s a part of it too that is, it’s kind of like this cyclical thing. Like I see it, I get it. It there is kind of like this repetitive pattern that people can kind of, um, yeah. Fall into. You got your eye on it.

You wanna get the, get the trash. Okay, so I have to ask a question because, you know, I, I, I post a lot of reels and those reels are syndicated to Facebook and for some reason the algorithm serves them up to people that just [00:19:00] like absolutely loaf Tacoma for engagement purposes. And so people comment all the time, well show the reel Tacoma.

They show the nasty, dirty, disgusting. And I’m like, I was thinking about it while we were picking up trash. I’m like. We’re literally in the nasty, dirty, disgusting part of Tacoma, literally picking up trash. Mm-hmm. And it’s a vibe. Mm-hmm. Like what do I tell these people on the internet? What would you tell them?

As far as like, I mean, what is the real Tacoma? You’ve seen the, I mean, you’ve seen it all. Oh yeah. Right. Like and, and how is it, I think Tacoma is a place where there really is a strong community connection. Like with the small businesses, people are really there for each other and wanna support each other.

Yeah. Um, not, and not just small businesses, but it’s, it’s a big city, but it feels, it feels, it has a small vibe to me, like a small vibe feeling. Okay. But around this issue of trash in particular. Yeah. Because I think that that is a thing for people, just like Tacoma’s a terrible place with homelessness and [00:20:00] trash everywhere.

And you’re literally a person who said, yes, I see the trash, and I would like, let’s do something up about it. Yeah. Yeah. And does, do you find yourself demoralized? ’cause I’m sure you’ve picked up trash in the same spots. Yeah. Over and over again, or are you. I guess what’s the opposite of demoralized? More or less?

Yeah. No, I hear what, yeah, I hear what you’re saying. I think, um, I do think about like the sustainability of it, right? Like, ’cause we do do some of the same areas over and over again. Or like, if there’s not litter in a place where we thought we were gonna pick up, like, oh, we know we can go to Pearson Trail.

Um, so there are like. Areas that I’m definitely more familiar with. But I think of it from the standpoint of when there is less litter, people tend to litter less. And so that’s kind of what keeps me going, right? So if we’re picking it up, it’s not accumulating over time, and if there’s not litter there, then people are less likely to litter.

So I think of that from a sustainability standpoint. And yeah, I mean there is a lot of litter in Tacoma. That’s true. [00:21:00] Um, but it’s not something that I’m gonna let get me down. We’re just gonna. Keep going forward. One thing I thought about while we were picking up trash was when you go mushrooming, I don’t know if you’ve ever gone and picked up mushrooms, like they talk about, you get your eyes on.

Yeah. And you learn to like spot a mushroom and a certain kind of mushroom, like in the, you know, like I got my eyes on. Yeah. And I was fine in trash. Like that was like hidden trash. So now in your life. Like this is your thing. Yeah. Do you go out when you’re traveling? I mean, you say, yeah, Tacoma has trash, but like everywhere has trash.

Oh yeah. Do you see it everywhere? Yes. If, if anyone was to ride in a car with me, they would, they would know. I’d be like, do you see all that litter? Do you see that? Oh my gosh. Do you see the Yes. So definitely have the eye for it. Um, but before I had the eye for litter, I also used to have the eye for Tacoma Rocks and Monkey Shines isn’t.

So I think just having an eye for, yeah, just seeing the things. Absolutely. I think it’s, it’s just, I’m sure people tell you all the time that this is so inspiring, but the part that’s [00:22:00] inspiring is it’s like people get out of bed and they go down and somebody has done all the work to make it easy, so all they have to do is just slot in and do something good for their neighbors that are still sleeping.

Like that’s an inspiring thing. Thank you. Do you have any advice for people who might be listening that wanna do something similar? Yeah, I think, um, one thing about this is, I mean, it is pretty low cost, I will say too, as far as, um. Supplies. We do connect with the Tacoma, uh, neighborhood Litter Patrol. So this is, this is for anybody.

If you do wanna pick up litter on your own, you can go on the City of Tacoma website. They’ll, we get their, our bags from them. So the big ones that say. The city of Tacoma on them. Um, we get landfill passes from the city of Tacoma, and so we don’t have to pay to take the trash that we collect from, um, the pickups to, to the landfill.

And, and they also provide, um, the thicker gloves. [00:23:00] So where do you go to get all that stuff on the website? Um, so with through Tidy Up Tacoma, it used to be with Environmental Services. Um, it’s in our Link tree on Instagram. Okay, great. But you could also Google search it and you the neighborhood Litter Patrol.

Um, and then you connect with them and you go to the Tacoma Recycling Center and they’ll have bikes ready for you. The landfill passes if you’d like. Um, and gloves. So folks can pick up litter. I mean obviously on their own, but if they want supplies, um, they can. They can get them through the city. And then, uh, this is interesting too, ’cause okay, so you have this, you’re able to get the supplies from the city.

Mm-hmm. And then when I was there, there was a lot of other groups that were connecting and involved. So you were doing a collab that day with the Tacoma Trash Pandas mm-hmm. And with the Tacoma Beer Week people. Yeah. Can you explain a little bit more about like the other groups that end up getting involved with you?

Yeah. So, uh, Tacoma Trash Pandas has partnered with, um. Tacoma Beer Week, I think for four or [00:24:00] five years. Wow. And so this year they had reached out to, to us and was like, Hey, do you wanna do a collab with, with us in Beer week? We had done something similar, not last year, but the year before. And so whenever we’ve done collaborations, it’s just through, through word of mouth, like our next pickup is gonna be with, uh, students at University of Puget Sound.

They had reached out and was like, Hey, do you wanna do a collab? Um, just through, through connecting, usually through email or. Instagram and I think that the deal with Tacoma trash pandas is it’s like independent litter pickup. So you pick up the trash and then you take a picture and you tag Tacoma trash pandas and then they like give you a sticker or something.

Right? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So it’s all explained to me after I was like trying to, yeah. I was trying to figure out who are all the actors involved in this Yeah. Situation. So, okay. The supplies come from the city. Anybody can pick up litter. If you wanna pick up litter with strangers from your community. Mm-hmm.

You can go through Oscar’s enemies. Yeah. 18 times a year when you go to the litter pickup. At the end, first of all, you’re gonna feel really good ’cause you just like cleaned up your community. Yeah. But then [00:25:00] there’s a drawing. Yes, there is. Is there always a drawing? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Um. At the, the main pickups, the quick picks, the, the shorter ones.

We don’t do a raffle. Um, but folks, those, uh, pickups are counted towards the milestone, little thank you gifts that we give folks. Um, but raffles after every main pickup, so 12 raffles a year. Fantastic. And like who, who gives you the raffle prizes? Well, um, some, some of them are donated, others are purchased.

So how, how can people get in touch with you if they want to donate something for the volunteers that are picking up trash? Yeah. So, um, businesses can just reach out to us on Instagram if they wanna, um, if they wanna donate gift cards for the raffle. All the prizes are, are local businesses, so hyperlocal in Tacoma.

Um, and, or they could email us and let us know. I usually just reach out to them and let ’em know, like, Hey, I’m gonna come through and get a gift card. A lot of. Businesses are super grateful, like, Hey, we’ll match whatever. If people reach out to me, I’ll be like, yeah, I’ll match what, whatever [00:26:00] you wanna donate.

It’s just, it’s super collaborative. Oh, that’s, that’s awesome. Yeah. So is there anything else that you want people to understand about Oscar’s enemies and what the future is for all of you? Yeah, I think the future, I’m, I’m excited. We’re ki kind of initiative each year kind of pick up, think about something that we wanna focus ki like how I had said like stay with, stay with what works, but how can we maintain like, being innovative?

And so we’re gonna explore at our next board meeting. They’re very informal. Um, we, um. Some picking up on the highway, maybe exploring with, um, Washington Department of Transportation. Wow. We get so much feedback from folks like the on-ramps, the off-ramps, this area, the, the areas that are just unsafe. Like we, but that also, that sounds so dangerous.

We’re not. Yes. And so, uh, we’re gonna explore, uh, next month how we might be able to do an adopt a highway or do something that, um. Connects to, to those [00:27:00] areas that folks have put a lot of, um, you know, energy around. Because we, we have a feedback survey that we hand out after pickups, and so that’s where we get a lot of that.

Can we clean up highways or off ramps on ramps? So that’s, that’s kind of an initiative for 2026, see if we can’t get a pickup that involves the highway, some on-ramps or off ramps. Is there anything to do with any of this that kind of keeps you up at night? Is there anything that worries you? Um. No, honestly, I, it’s not, there’s not anything that, I mean, if, if I’m being honest, if there’s no trash that worries me, I feel responsible for it, not, it doesn’t worry me as far as like, we’d love it.

We wanna work ourselves out of this. Ultimately, yeah, obviously, but I would say nerves. Like if a big pickup, a hundred people are coming to pick up trash. Right. And then there isn’t any, that is something that creates a little nerves or anxiety. But I, I went and there was not enough dirty trash. We, we, we get [00:28:00] feedback about that.

Interesting. Yeah. In the survey, that’s why there’s that little FAQ to kind of guide people. I want a really dirty scoop. Yeah. Yeah. They, they want, they want the litter. So, um, but no, as far as, I mean, and, you know. If I really think about safety of folks, you know, there’s a lot of un, there is unpredictability in in the world and so that’s something that is out of my control.

And so, um, but I mean, I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say I didn’t think about that sometimes, but really it’s just kind of doing what we’re doing and trying to be better. Why do you think there’s so much litter? Oh my gosh. That there’s a, that’s a loaded question. There’s, there’s, remember those ads when we were kids, right?

Yeah. About don’t litter. I feel like since I was young it was like, don’t throw stuff on the ground. Yeah. Litter. And I know in the olden days people just did. Yeah. But like, it’s been a while that we’ve known that was bad. So Well, and there’s signs that say litter and it’ll hurt. There’s those on the freeway in the highway, um, it’ll hurt.

Yeah, that’s what it says. Um, I, I mean, I think there’s a lot, a lot of illegal dumping. There’s a lot [00:29:00] of people, I mean, throwing trash, I mean garbage cans. Something that I don’t, that I learned that I don’t know if is like common knowledge to folks, but if you don’t bag your trash and you throw it in your bin and the wind blows, or it’s overfilled, a lot of, like neighborhood trash does come from.

Homes and bins that are overfilled or dumpsters, so Wow. Yeah, there’s, there’s different, I mean, a lot of different. Places or people that litter come from. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I think that, this is maybe a weird thing to say, but I think me, people might listen and assume like, oh, it’s, you know, it’s homeless people that are creating all of the litter or something.

But I saw a lot of real middle class trash. Oh, on the streets. Yeah. There’s a lot of, yeah, we, it kind like. Snack walkers. Yeah, there’s definitely, that’s what, like you can tell, like near convenience stores, there’s the trails of the, the candy, I mean around schools or things that clearly came outta cars.

Yes. Or yeah. And it, yeah. Trucks that aren’t [00:30:00] secure loads. Like if you see like mattresses, bigger stuff. Yeah, it’s, I saw car pieces. I was like, oh, this must be from like debris from a fender bender. Yes. Yeah. Like a few times. Mm-hmm. It was like, oh, I’m picking up pieces of a mirror. I’m picking up pieces of a bumper.

Yep. Really interesting. Well. Thank you so much for coming on. I feel like the thing I really wanted to ask that I feel I haven’t asked you is, I know there are people listening that would love to organize something like this. Mm-hmm. And you’re such a natural organizer. This is the part, maybe you don’t even see it in yourself, but just the fact that you’re like, you have all these systems.

You are not being paid to do this. And you’re doing it at such a high level. I mean, that pe uh, there are businesses that organize things that are not reminding people and updating them and giving them the, in instruc to the degree that you are. Mm-hmm. Like what is your advice for people that wanna organize other people to do something good in their community?

I think to start small, start small and, and get, uh, focused on what it is that they wanna do, and then branch out from that. And [00:31:00] so pull from your community, pull from the people that you know, um. Pick something that you’re passionate about. I mean, and I think something that is, is low cost. I mean, I think that is something, yeah, a contributing factor to how we were, we are able to, to do this too and sustain it in the way that we are.

Um, but I think passion and determination and just, um, the, the success in seeing the community come together for it is kind of what the driving force is. Um. Well, you should, you should be really proud. Like what an incredible thing that you’ve done for six years now. Yeah. Incredible. Thank you. Thank you for coming on and for, uh, cleaning up all the trash.

Hope to see you again out there. You will. You will. It was great.

If you like this podcast, check out, move to tacoma.com. Move to tacoma.com is a neighborhood guide, blog and podcast to help people in Tacoma Pierce County and [00:32:00] beyond find their place in the city of Destiny. More [email protected]. Move to Tacoma is part of the Channel 2 5 3 podcast network.

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