Photo Gallery: Trash Pickup

We have been at it since August 2020, since our member Emily suggested we start doing this. We’ve done well over a several doezens of trash pickups over the past 8 years. We rant and had fun at the same time. And we made wonderful friends like Ithaca’s original Glorious Trash Birds.

Please also see 10 reasons why we keep picking up trash.

Trash Paddle, July 12, 2025 – photos courtesy by Rich Mattingly.

We pulled 800 lbs of wasted materials from our inlets with our volunteers on this day. We were featured in GAIA’s member spotlight for this event.

A group of volunteers posing together by a dock after a cleanup event, with discarded items like shopping carts and tires in the foreground, promoting a zero waste initiative.
Two individuals in a kayak collecting trash from the water, including a shopping cart, surrounded by greenery.
Two women kayaking in red kayaks on a river, one holds a metal cage containing items while paddling.
Two smiling individuals wearing green 'Zero Waste Ithaca' t-shirts stand together under a tree by a body of water.
A person sorting through piles of trash and recyclables on a concrete surface outside a building.
A man in a red shirt standing in shallow water surrounded by lush green trees and foliage.
A woman in a pink tank top stands reading from a paper while another woman sits on the ground nearby, working on cardboard boxes. The setting is an outdoor area with a checkered tablecloth in the background.
A collection of various discarded cans and bottles, including beer cans and soft drink containers, scattered on a surface.

Buy Nothing Day Sagan Planet Walk, November 25, 2022 – photos also by courtesy of Rich Mattingly.

Kayak trash pickup, August 11, 2022 – photos also courtesy of Rich Mattingly.

Photos below are from trash pickup in Stewart Park on November 16, 2020, taken by a Friends of Stewart Park staff member.

Photos below are from various trash pickups from 2020-2022.

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