Our Mission:
We stop people from littering while proactively cleaning up litter.
Our Current Vision:
- By 2022: Remove all of the litter from Cuyahoga County in one single day.
- By 2025: Provide community service hours to students all over the country by hiring outreach managers (interns) in each major city.
Board Officers
President – Jeff Schlekie
Vice President – Amalia Moreno
Secretary – Jeff Schlekie
Treasurer – David Mettert
The History of LitterBugz
During the summer of 2011 in Toledo Ohio, a group of students started picking up litter in different neighborhoods weekly. Each volunteer wore a t-shirt that read, “I Hate Trash.” As they moved areas, residents would help by picking up their own trash. By August, the group had signed up over 500 volunteers, making an extreme difference in their community. This group, The LitterBugz, started at The University of Toledo. The organization attempted to remove all of the litter from Toledo in one day, however fell short of the goal. They had 957 volunteers attend the event. The LitterBugz now resides just outside of Cleveland and continues to provide Community Service Hours to volunteers who pick up trash with the directors themselves. As it has always been, “Leading by Example” is the number one philosophy behind The LitterBugz.
Litter: Facts and Prevention
People litter. Once on the ground, litter attracts more litter. In otherwords, the more litter on the ground, the more likely people are to litter in that location. Although some companies and organizations are paid to remove waste from collection areas, no one person gets paid to pick up an individual’s litter wherever they go.
People can prevent and reverse the effects of litter. Research and studies have proven that litter is the result of individual behavior. People choose to litter and are careless in the handling of waste. Once litter is on the ground, it attracts even more litter. A clean community, by contrast, can discourage littering and improve community appearance and quality of life.
According to The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, “Litter consists of waste products such as containers, papers, and wrappers which have been disposed of improperly. Once litter has accumulated, it invites people to add more.”
Two Main Reasons Why People Litter?
Through extensive research and experience, The Litterbugz has found the two most common reasons people litter;
- Inadequate disposal containers or trashcans
- Being careless of their surrounding environment
These two reasons describe the most important factors that lead to littering. The purpose of The LitterBugz is to increase recycle awareness, which would urge citizens to care about the surrounding environment. In the future, our hope is to provide trash and cigarette butt disposals, while educating the youth, to try and eliminate the act of littering entirely!
