Alexander Duarte rustled through the underbrush near Collier Parkway, hunting for trash.
He found plenty: car parts, cups from the nearby Sonic restaurant and other castoffs.
"It seems like if anybody throws anything out, it ends up in this ditch," said Jodi Mark of Lutz, who was chaperoning Duarte and other middle school-age members of Friends of Florida, an environmental group.
The youngsters were at work this morning as part of Coastal Cleanup Day, an international effort to clear roadsides and other land, keeping trash out of waterways. The Ocean Conservancy sponsors the yearly campaign.
This year's cleanup is officially set for Sept. 25, but organizers allowed crews to make their rounds this weekend because many people are used to the event being on the third Saturday of the month, said Betsy Crisp of the Pasco County Cooperative Extension Service. Crisp led the Land O' Lakes cleanup.
In central Pasco, more than 500 people fanned out, black trash bags in hand. Cub Scout Pack 323 also scoured the sides of Collier Parkway for trash "to be helpful," in the words of Nathan Lewis, 6, of Land O' Lakes.
Middle school student Emily Cohen didn't hide her disgust with having to pick up after litterbugs.
"I don't think it's right that these people are throwing out their trash," she said. "It's bad for the environment and then we have to do this."
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