COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — You may have noticed a rise in litter throughout Colorado Springs. One group is trying to clean things up. They call themselves “Richard’s Rubbish Roundup”, a new non-profit, dedicated to picking up litter. The group met on Thursday 4/18/24 downtown to officially announce their new non-profit status. Mayor Yemi Mobolade was there to show his support for the program.
The group has already been picking up litter along Monument Creek, every week for the past five months. They say every week, between ten and thirty volunteers come to the Marion House parking lot and pick up two to three bags of trash each. They’re hoping the number of volunteers and the trash they pick up increases.
Colorado Springs does have other groups that do the same thing, like Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful, The HOT Team, Neighborhood Services, The Downtown Partnership, and even The Storm Water Enterprise. However, Richard Skorman, founder of Richard’s Rubbish Roundup says the efforts still aren’t enough. “I don’t care who you are, what your beliefs are, we all need to work together. And that’s going to be unusual I think, a lot of times here everybody thinks politics is so divided and nobody wants to work together… well, we do. And we don’t care what your philosophies are, we all love this community so let’s work together to keep it clean.”
There is a hotline you can call at 719-238-1161 to report litter in your area. You can also call that number for information on how to join. The group emphasizes safety for their pickups. Skorman tells me “We will give you everything you need. Everything to keep you safe. You’re not gonna hand pick litter, you’ll have a picker. You’re gonna have gloves, you’re gonna have a mask if you want, and you’re gonna have a can for needles if you happen to find them. Whatever it is, we are going to keep you safe and give you everything you need to make this easy.”
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