East End Trash Talkers, Google’s Every Litter Bit, and the CEC’s Waste Deep. Those are three of the team names from last year’s Litter League – a litter clean-up competition hosted by Allegheny CleanWays and Friends of the Riverfront. The second annual Litter League starts Friday at the Cinderlands Warehouse in the Strip District.
Participants will spend the next two months completing weekly litter-related challenges that they say will help keep Allegheny County beautiful. Teams of neighbors and coworkers will take part in activities like creating a monster structure out of collected waste. Last year, the teams gathered more than 30,000 pounds of garbage.
There’s an estimated 50 billion pieces of litter across the U.S., according to a recent study by the nonprofit Keep America Beautiful. Gregory Manley, the community outreach specialist for Friends of the Riverfront and Allegheny CleanWays, said “being outside with people also helps us think better and act better and be more responsible to one another. And so I think picking up litter with a group is enjoyable, and it's also a really profound version of civic engagement.”
The competition, presented by Geotechnics, isn’t just about collecting the most litter. Participants compete for four different awards with prizes donated by environmentally conscious businesses. One award is called “THE ARCHIVISTS” award, for example, goes to the team that demonstrated the most detailed and thorough litter reporting.
The event kicks off tomorrow for Earth Day at Cinderlands Warehouse in the Strip District. Last minute teams can register to compete on-site or online.
Each team will receive tutorials and all-weather litter collection kits. Opening ceremony events will be followed by a happy hour.
