INDIANAPOLIS — Our greenspaces and streets can get messy.
Volunteer Claire Griffith found a variety of littered items, including batteries and parts of a tire.
"You get a little bit of everything," Griffith said, "a lot of chip bags."
That is why Griffith spends her time picking up trash in the Fall Creek area.
"It doesn't look like there's litter there from far away, but you take a closer look and all of a sudden ... there's just trash everywhere," Griffith said.
Griffith and other volunteers are able to help out easily because everything from the trash pickers to the garbage bags are provided to them for free by Keep Indianapolis Beautiful. KIB also coordinates free trash removal, including trucks and dumpsters.
Volunteers just supply the elbow grease.
"It makes me really grateful that I'm in a community that has these organizations and these opportunities to get involved," Griffith said.
So, why should you consider hitting the streets?
Ryann Davis, with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, said if we don't pick up the trash, who will?
"There's so much litter in the city that we really do need the help of lots of people working together," Davis said.
Davis said you can get involved by checking out their scheduled cleanups online.
If your street block is not on a calendar block, you can always apply.
"We have availability April through October every single year. DPW (Indianapolis Department of Public Works) provides free dumpsters and packer trucks or garbage compactor trucks to folks," Davis said.
Each weekend, five dumpsters and 1-2 packer trucks are available.
Last year, they helped out with around 300 cleanups. This year, they'd like to do the same.
Just remember — those clean ups can only happen if you show up.