COLORADO SPRINGS — Day after day of wind this week has left its calling card across the region - trash scattered everywhere.
There are some who watch the weather for its impact on trash in public spaces.
"What we always notice is when it's windy there's just a lot more. It's not just the usual, but it's also all the garbage that's blown over from garbage cans that people have. What's blown off of garbage trucks," said Richard Skorman, founder of Richard's Rubbish Roundup.
Skorman started a volunteer group a few years back called Richard's Rubbish Roundup. Plentiful everyday litter keeps the group busy with projects every week. Work is exponential after wind.
"It's not in one place, it's scattered everywhere," Skorman said.
"Wind is kind of our enemy when it comes to trash in the city," said Corey Rivera, who leads maintenance operations for the City of Colorado Springs.
Public Works in Colorado Springs can put 20 to 40 people on trash cleanup depending on the need.
"We're a very small piece to a large problem," Rivera said.
"When the wind picks up, definitely the phone calls pick up too, about ‘I'm seeing a lot more trash in this area’ or ‘trash has been blowing in’ or ‘my neighbor's trash can fell over. Now there's trash everywhere there," said Thomas Thompson, advisor to Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade.
In a city of around 200 square miles, the "Keep It Clean COS" program was started to supplement trash cleanup with collaboration between the city, cleanup groups like Skorman's, and everyday citizens.
"I want to be a part of that solution. So really the responsibility to keep our city clean lands on every single person in the city to own their part," Thompson said.
"We supply pickers, trash bags, and then at the end of your cleanup we actually come out and pick up the trash bags after you do your event," Rivera said.
The results are significant. The city puts in perspective by offering the image of filling a swimming pool repeatedly with removed litter.
The singular Rubbish Roundup has been going just over two years now and Skorman is keeping track.
"We have collected over 100,000 pounds of garbage," Skorman said.
There are people with required service time, also volunteers who go out and clean up, or you can see a piece and pick it up. One person at a time, one piece at a time makes a difference.
"This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy."
___
Space Command offers retention, relocation bonuses for people to move to Alabama
U.S. Space Command tells News5 they are offering what was called a "significant" retention and relocation bonus to civilian employees to encourage them to move with the headquarters from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama.
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.