Volunteers Pick Up Tons of Trash During Keep Austin Beautiful Day

By Theo Werner

Reporting Texas TV

AUSTIN, Texas — Austinites picked up thousands of pounds of trash Saturday during the city’s annual Keep Austin Beautiful Day.

Keep Austin Beautiful volunteers held cleanups at about 100 different locations across the city. In 2022, volunteers collected nearly 16,000 pounds of trash and more than 1,000 pounds of recycling.

David Simonis volunteered at the Riverside location.

“The city doesn’t have the resources to pick up all these little things,” Simonis said. “I think it’s super important for us to be part of A, something bigger, and B, to help out, you know, the city.”

As Austin has grown, so has the amount of trash blowing around the city. Volunteers frequently find a significant amount of waste on the shores of Lady Bird Lake.

Chris Plummer picked up trash at Roy G. Guerrero Park.

“A lot of your favorites. Whataburger, Coca-Cola, plenty of soft drinks and because it’s spring, a ton of cascarones,” Plummer said. “If you’ve ever had confetti eggs, there’s a lot of cleanup after.”

Some volunteers bring unique skills to assist in the cleanup. Climbers from SkyCrux Axxess Specialists were able to rappel down the Pennybacker Bridge Overlook to hard-to-reach areas.

In addition to helping the community, volunteers said the event is a great way to network.

“If you’re new to Austin or you’re trying to make more connections, this is one of the best ways to get to know the people,” Plummer said. “You get a whole bunch of volunteers from different diverse parts of Austin who have different stories to share.”

Keep Austin Beautiful Day is the organization’s biggest event and takes place during April, which is Earth Month. The organization holds a number of other events throughout the year.

Eddy Romaguera, a volunteer at the Riverside location, encouraged people to sign up  to help through the Keep Austin Beautiful website.

“It’s free and you help the parks,” Romaguera said.

(Theo Werner/Reporting Texas TV)