Plymouth man picks up 15 kilos of trash per week in effort to assist setting

PLYMOUTH, Minn. — There is a trash man in Plymouth, who would not have his personal rubbish truck, however nonetheless covers quite a lot of floor.

Armed together with his Nifty Nabber, 77-year-old Doug Eichten walks a busy, two-mile stretch of Bass Lake Street a number of occasions per week.

He is been doing this for six years – impressed by the roadside trash he was seeing whereas visiting Florida. So he received his personal stretch of street again residence.

Every week his objective is 15 kilos of trash. Very often, he picks up much more. 

“Nothing surprises me with this trash factor anymore. The quantity of it continues to be unbelievable,” stated Eichten.

There are solely two issues he will not decide up: roadkill – for apparent causes – and cigarette butts. He says if he picked up each single a type of he’d be selecting up litter for weeks.

He is discovered pop cans, beer cans, cigarette bins and quick meals bins. Even clothes and soiled diapers.

Doug’s picked up just a few classes alongside the way in which. His important purpose for doing this is not to make the roadways look good. It is to assist the setting.

“All of these items, on a good rain, goes into the storm sewers, into the ponds, into the creeks, heads for the Mississippi. And God forbid, it makes its option to the Gulf of Mexico,” stated Doug. “It endangers wildlife. It is extra about that than it’s the look of it.”

So he marches on, hoping to set an instance that does not go to waste.

“I hope it is used with the kids as a instructing second. As a result of there is no want for it and it needs to be unacceptable,” stated Eichten. “You’ll be able to complain about these items, or you are able to do one thing about them.”

Doug desires to thank his neighbor Carolyn Dutton and her crew for serving to him.

For his half, Doug has worn out 4 Nifty Nabbers in six years. That is how a lot trash he is picked up.

His daughter has additionally adopted an space to choose up litter close to Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis.