Alongside Bear Creek, in Colorado Springs, a dozen volunteers use their gloved hands and grabbers to clean up trash spread throughout the area.
A little downstream, Courtney Holland yells at her nine-year-old son Trent.
“Watch the rocks, don’t get too close to the creek. ”
“I found a big piece of trash mom, I want to get it. ”
He’s successful.
“Don’t look at it too closely, just put it in the bag,” Courtney says as she holds the bag open.
They are from Florida on vacation for Trent's spring break.
“We thought we would give back to the community while visiting,” Courtney told CPR News.
For Trent, the only thing worth noting is that he picked up a bottle of urine.
The mother and son duo were volunteering with the non-profit, Richards Rubbish Roundup. A group that meets weekly to clean up Colorado Springs.
In 2024 the organization gathered 44,520 pounds of litter spread across 12 different sites throughout Colorado Springs. Richards Rubbish Roundup was started in 2023 by Richard Skorman, a former city council member, a water conservation activist and a small business owner.
“Everything goes into Fountain Creek, then everything ends up in the Arkansas River and eventually to the Gulf of Mexico. A lot of the pollution that happens really goes throughout the whole country, and we are one of the places where these streams begin,” Skorman said. “Monument Creek begins up above Monument and Fountain Creek begins up above Woodland Park. I think we should have a real responsibility to keep it clean up here.”
After each roundup, the group heads over to “Poor Richards,” a restaurant owned by Skorman and his wife Patricia. Aside from the tons of trash, the Roundup has been responsible for cleaning up, it’s also responsible for creating a community.
“We were surprised because people really enjoy each other. Patricia and I always try to feed them and give them a drink afterwards so people can get together. It's been great,“ Skorman said. “There's people from all walks of life that have gotten to know each other and become friends, and a nice feeling of camaraderie. People look forward to getting together with each other, and there's that sense that they're all doing good, and so they feel really good afterwards.”
Connie Cooper has been a part of the group for almost a full year.
“There’s a lot of us. Not everyone can come every week, but there’s enough of us that each week we can pick up the trash, no questions asked,” Cooper told CPR News during a roundup, as she bent down to untangle a piece of trash from a bush.
“It’s not exactly for the weak of heart.”
Closer to the creek, a trio of volunteers tried to fish out a big piece of plastic from the water.
They were also successful.
After everyone’s gathered their trash, they throw the bags into a pile. Director Sonya Walker takes a picture and sends it to the city so they know where to pick it up. Normally, the pickup takes place the next day.
“They've been a great help and they've been picking up most of the garbage. The hope is that we can get the city to do it right away. In some cases we haul off (the trash) ourselves, we figure it out for each different pickup. We want to make sure that it's not turned into litter again,” Skorman said. “We certainly try to get the city to help, but if not, we will figure out another place, including Poor Richard dumpsters if we have to use them.”
Used needles are a common item picked up by the group. Walker is the one to handle them.
She collects the found needles and brings them to Healthcare Waste Services (HWS) in Colorado Springs.
HWS collects used needles, sends them through an industrial shredder, sterilizes them and then brings them to the landfill. The purpose of the process is to ensure no one is using dirty needles and to decrease the chance of a disease spreading through used needles.
Chad Tuttle, the operations manager of HWS said working with Richards Rubbish Roundup is important to their group because they are also a community-based organization.
“It's in our own backyard. Our employees, their families go out to these areas. Our customers all use these areas.” Tuttle said. “Richards Rubbish Roundup has been so great, and to go and clean this up for the community that we thought the least that we could do to be community-based is to help and donate our services for the sharps that they pick up.”
According to the program's Instagram page, 1,073 needles were safely collected throughout the year.
The fight to clean up Colorado Springs and its water has been happening for years, through legislation, activism and on Tuesdays, a dozen determined volunteers.
