Dozens join anti-litter group in KC’s Northland after Star series on trash problems
Kansas Citians apparently are interested in doing more than just talk trash.
After appearing in a story about the embarrassing trashy conditions of Kansas City area highways, the Northland Community Cleanup KC Facebook group saw its membership get a big boost — going from around 530 members before the story ran on April 12 to over 600 members as of Friday.
“Hopefully it means we’ll be able to do more trash pick-up,” said Nancy Gorton, who organizes clean up events for the group. “If these are people that really are interested in helping, then it would be great.”
And if any of them are willing to lead events, even better. “I’m always looking for new leaders,” Gorton said.
The story on the litter problems facing the metro’s highway was part of The Star’s series “Talking Trash.” All the stories in the series were inspired by questions and concerns The Star heard from Kansas Citians through listening sessions, an online callout and other conversations in the community. The stories ran throughout this month and can be found here.
Because of the success Northland Community Cleanup had with its membership, The Star wanted to revisit the group to see what’s next.
One of the biggest challenges the group faces is getting members active in the clean-up events. Despite having a significant membership, only about 10% participate, Gorton said. To get people to participate, Gorton has been reaching out to small groups of members asking what can be done to “make it work” for them.
She was encouraged that five new people showed up at recent clean-up events. She said every volunteer is needed.
‘Why not dream big’
On Wednesday, Gorton was driving across Missouri 152 to Liberty and she couldn’t help thinking about what was going to happen to the unsightly trash along the highway when the Missouri Department of Transportation begins it’s mowing season shortly.
“It’s going to go from one piece of litter to 100, which makes it more time consuming to pick up,” she said.
To prevent that from happening, she said what’s needed is four groups of 10 people at intersections along Missouri 152, each working in a different direction — north, south, east and west.
“If we could get that many people to participate, we could knock this stuff out,” she said.
She admits that’s a lot of volunteers, but pointed out that even a group of 20 people can cover a stretch of highway from exit to exit in about two hours.
“It’s a pipe dream,” she said. “But why not dream big, right?”
Last weekend, you might have noticed members of the group cleaning up trash along Missouri 152 if you drove through the area. A crew of around 24 members picked up 112 bags of trash on eastbound Missouri 152 from North Platte Purchase Drive to U.S. 169 that Saturday.
The next day, a crew of 14 people picked up 97 bags of litter on the westbound lanes of Missouri 152 in the area of Green Hills Road and North Platte Purchase Drive.
Clean-up events are planned this weekend along the highway too. Members will pick up trash along eastbound Missouri 152 between North Ambassador Drive and Grenn Hills beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday. Another crew will be out at 10 a.m. Sunday cleaning up the area of North Ambassador Drive and St. Clair Avenue.
Another clean-up event is planned for 2 p.m. May 6, for the eastbound stretch of highway behind the Shops at Boardwalk from the RideKC bus stop in the to North Ambassador Drive. The next day, a clean-up is planned at noon along Northwest Roanrige Road, from the Texas Roadhouse to Northwest Barry Road.
For more information on clean-up events, ask to join the Northland Community Cleanup KC, which is a private group on Facebook but allows people looking to help with clean-up events to join.
Fundraising opportunities
Building on the groups’ past success, Gorton has formed a non-profit under the name of Northland Community Cleanup KC that’s a separate entity from the Facebook group. The non-profit was awarded a $60,000 contract from Kansas City to do litter abatement in the Northland.
The non-profit will use that money primarily as fundraising opportunities for other groups, by paying them $15 an hour per person for participation in clean-up events.
The city contract will also allow the non-profit to pay $15 an hour to individuals who want to be paid for picking up trash.
The city is hoping to start the contract May 1, focusing on litter clean-up in the neighborhoods in Kansas City, North, said Sherae Honeycutt, a spokeswoman for the city. The group was chosen because it has already done “outstanding work.”
“We hope that they carry that great work over to the neighborhood clean-ups,” Honeycutt said.
For more information about the fundraising opportunities, groups can contact Gorton at 816-695-3305.
Ultimately, Gorton would like to see the work of the Northland Community Cleanup KC Facebook group spread to other parts of the metro, especially in the poorer areas of Kansas City. That could include pairing up with other clean-up groups on a monthly community clean-up effort.
As she sees it, everyone deserves to have litter picked up from their neighborhoods no matter what their means are.
“I know there are people in the group that would go anywhere,” she said. “They want to pick up trash. It doesn’t matter where it is.”
This story was originally published April 28, 2023 at 2:42 PM.
