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Volunteers Get Their Pick Of Litter

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 24, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - The tangle of overgrown plants along Collier Parkway rustled suddenly Saturday morning.

Stacy Wiles burst through the underbrush, a trash bag in one hand, the other grasping for the silver guardrail at the edge of the sidewalk.

"Civilization! Civilization!" she cried in mock relief before depositing her plastic trash bag on the sidewalk.

Nearby, nearly a dozen youngsters from Friends for Florida, all of them middle- or elementary-school students in Pasco County, scurried in and out of the tangle of trees, vines and underbrush on the hunt for litter.

Saturday's Coastal Cleanup drew more than 1,800 volunteers to the county's roadsides and beaches for a morning spent picking up trash.

From New Port Richey to Dade City, volunteers collected the plastic soda bottles, aluminum cans and cigarette butts - thousands of cigarette butts - that had escaped the trash can.

"I've been scooping out along the curb, and there's just tons of cigarette butts," said Jodi Mark of Lutz, whose son Jordan created Friends for Florida. The group raises money to help other environmental nonprofit groups such as Hillsborough County's Big Cat Rescue, Jodi Mark said.

Countywide, volunteers collected more than 15.5 tons of trash, according to preliminary numbers released by Pasco County on Tuesday. That was up slightly from the 15.2 tons collected last year, said Jennifer Seney, the county's recycling coordinator.

Although the amount of trash collected stayed fairly steady, participation in the cleanup was up 50 percent from last year, Seney said.

"To me, it's almost more exciting that we had 600 more people," Seney said. "That means 600 more people care."

In Land O' Lakes alone, organizers signed up 373 people for the day's activities, said Betsy Crisp of the University of Florida's Pasco County Extension Service. That was nearly 70 people more than last year.

Teams of Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and even Friends for Florida's budding environmentalists collected nearly 2 tons of trash - enough bags to nearly fill the tractor-trailer-size 30-yard trash bin parked at their rallying spot in front of SunTrust Bank on State Road 54.

Teams at Withlacoochee River Park outside Dade City collected 1,000 pounds of trash. Volunteers based at the Wesley Chapel Regional Park collected about 1,600 pounds from the roads near the park, Seney said.

The bulk of the trash collected, 11 tons, was picked up in communities west of the Suncoast Parkway, Seney said.

Along with their bags of throw-aways, Friends for Florida also collected a bag of cans, glass and plastic suitable for recycling. The Marks said they will take that bag home and put it in with their household recycling.

"We were surprised there was no recycling this year," said Jordan's father, Todd Mark. "We're going to suggest that for next year."

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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